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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Queensland
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Contents
Page
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 1 Introductory
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3 Object of Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Act not intended to prevent other accessing or amendment of
personal information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5 Relationship with other Acts requiring access to or amendment
of personal information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6 Scope of personal information under this Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7 Relationship with other Acts prohibiting disclosure of information 14
8 Relationship with other Acts regulating disposal of information . . 15
9 Relationship with Right to Information Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
10 Act binds State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Part 2 Interpretation
11 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12 Meaning of personal information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
13 Meaning of document of an agency for ch 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
14 Meaning of document of a Minister for ch 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
15 Meaning of document otherwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
16 Meaning of document to which the privacy principles do not
apply ...................................... 17
17 Meaning of agency for ch 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
18 Meaning of agency otherwise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
19 Meaning of entity to which the privacy principles do not apply. . . 18
20 Special provision about application of Act other than ch 3 to a
Minister ..................................... 18
21 Meaning of public authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Contents
22 Meaning of processing period and transfer period for ch 3 . . . . . 19
23 What it means to disclose personal information and to use
personal information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
24 Meaning of control of a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
25 References to IPPs and NPPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 1 Compliance with IPPs by agencies
26 Information Privacy Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
27 Agencies to comply with IPPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
28 Noncompliance with particular IPPs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
29 Special provision for law enforcement agencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Part 2 Compliance with NPPs
30 National Privacy Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
31 Health department to comply with NPPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
32 Noncompliance with particular NPPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Part 3 Transfer of personal information outside Australia
33 Transfer of personal information outside Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Part 4 Compliance with parts 1 to 3 by contracted service
providers
34 Meaning of service arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
35 Binding a contracted service provider to privacy principles . . . . . 27
36 Bound contracted service provider to comply with privacy
principles .................................. 28
37 Contracting agency to comply with privacy principles if
contracted service provider not bound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Part 5 Provision of information to Ministers
38 Personal information relevant to portfolio responsibilities. . . . . . . 29
Part 6 Miscellaneous
39 Nature of rights created by pts 1 to 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 1 Right to access and amendment
40 Right to be given access to particular documents . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
41 Right to amend personal information in particular documents . . . 31
42 Other ways of accessing or amending personal information . . . . 32
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
43 Making access application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
44 Making amendment application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
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45 Making access or amendment applications for children. . . . . . . . 35
46 Access or amendment application may not be made to
commissioner ................................ 36
47 Application for documents then existing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
48 Application for metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
49 Application not for backup system documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Part 3 Dealing with application
Division 1 Decision-maker
50 Decision-maker for application to agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
51 Decision-maker for application to Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Division 2 Preliminary contact with applicant
52 Application outside scope of Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
53 Noncompliance with application requirement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
54 Access application not limited to personal information. . . . . . . . . 41
55 Longer processing period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Division 3 Contact with relevant third party
56 Disclosure of concern to third party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Division 4 Transfers
57 Transfer of access or amendment application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
58 Pro-disclosure bias and pro-amendment bias in deciding to deal
with applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
59 Exempt information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
60 Effect on agency's or Minister's functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
61 Prerequisites before refusal because of effect on functions . . . . . 48
62 Previous application for same documents--access application . . 49
63 Previous application for same documents--amendment
application .................................. 52
Part 5 Decision
Division 1 Access applications
64 Pro-disclosure bias in deciding access to documents . . . . . . . . . 54
65 Considered decision on access application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
66 Deemed decision on access application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
67 Grounds on which access may be refused. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
68 Notification of decision and reasons--access application . . . . . . 56
69 Information as to existence of particular documents . . . . . . . . . . 59
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Division 2 Amendment applications
70 Considered decision on amendment application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
71 Deemed decision on amendment application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
72 Grounds on which amendment may be refused. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
73 Notification of decision and reasons--amendment application . . 61
74 Amendment of document by alteration or notation. . . . . . . . . . . . 61
75 Notation to information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
76 Particular notations required to be added . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Part 6 Charging regime
Division 1 Preliminary
77 Meaning of access charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
78 Duty in relation to access charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Division 2 Payment of charges
79 Requirement to pay access charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Division 3 Waiver of charges
80 Waiver under div 3 only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
81 Uneconomical to charge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
82 Applicant under financial hardship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Part 7 Giving access
83 Forms of access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
84 Time limit for access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
85 Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
86 Precautions for children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
87 Deferral of access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
88 Deletion of irrelevant information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
89 Deletion of exempt information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
90 Deletion of contrary to public interest information . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
91 Giving summary of personal information to applicant or
intermediary .................................. 72
92 Giving relevant healthcare information to applicant's nominated
healthcare professional ......................... 73
Part 8 Internal review
93 Definitions for pt 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
94 Internal review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
95 Decisions that may not be reviewed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
96 Applying for internal review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
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97 When internal review application to be decided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Part 9 External review
Division 1 Preliminary
98 Definitions for pt 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
99 External review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
100 Onus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Division 2 Application
101 Applying for external review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
102 Participants in external review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Division 3 After application made
103 Early resolution encouraged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
104 Agency or Minister to be informed of application for external
review of deemed decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
105 Agency or Minister to be informed before external review of
decision ...................................... 79
106 Applications where decision delayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
107 Information commissioner may decide not to review . . . . . . . . . . 80
Division 4 Conduct of external review
108 Procedure on external review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
109 Requirement to assist during review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
110 Conduct of reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Division 4A Powers of information commissioner on external review
111 Preliminary inquiries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
112 Better reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
113 Access to documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
114 Access in particular form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
115 Requiring a search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
116 Requiring information, documents and attendance . . . . . . . . . . . 85
117 Examining witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
118 Additional powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
119 Restrictions under other laws not applicable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
120 Information commissioner to ensure proper disclosure and
return of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
121 Information commissioner to ensure nondisclosure of particular
information .................................. 87
122 Exception for successful challenge of s 69(2) notice . . . . . . . . . . 88
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Division 5 Decision on external review
123 Decision on external review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
124 Correction of mistakes in decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Division 6 Miscellaneous
125 Costs of external review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
126 Disciplinary action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Part 10 Vexatious applicants
127 Vexatious applicants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
128 Declaration may be varied or revoked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Part 11 References of questions of law and appeals
129 Definitions for pt 11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
130 Reference of questions of law to Supreme Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
131 Reference of questions of law to Queensland Civil and
Administrative Tribunal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
132 Appeal to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal on
question of law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
133 Application to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for
review of vexatious applicant declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 1 Functions of information commissioner under this Act
134 Information commissioner not subject to direction . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
135 Performance monitoring and support functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
136 Decision-making functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
137 External review functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
138 Guidelines under Right to Information Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Part 2 Staff of Office of Information Commissioner in relation to
this Act
139 Delegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
140 Staff subject only to direction of information commissioner . . . . . 99
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner
141 The Privacy Commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
142 Role and function of privacy commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
143 Privacy commissioner subject to direction of information
commissioner ................................. 100
144 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
145 Procedure before appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
146 Term of appointment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
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147 Remuneration and conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
148 Leave of absence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
149 Preservation of rights if public service officer appointed . . . . . . . 102
150 Restriction on outside employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
151 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
152 Acting privacy commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Part 4 Proceedings
153 Third party proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
154 Costs in proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
155 Information commissioner and privacy commissioner may
appear in proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
156 Intervention by Attorney-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Part 5 Waiving or modifying privacy principles obligations in the
public interest
157 Waiver or modification approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Part 6 Compliance notices
158 Compliance notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
159 Extension of time for compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
160 Agency must comply with notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
161 Application to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for
review of decision to give compliance notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
162 Parties to QCAT proceeding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
163 How QCAT may dispose of review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 1 Making privacy complaints
164 Meaning of privacy complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
165 Privacy complaint may be made or referred to information
commissioner ................................. 109
166 Requirements for privacy complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Part 2 Dealing with privacy complaints
167 Preliminary action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
168 Information commissioner may decline to deal with or to deal
further with complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
169 Referral of privacy complaint to other entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
170 Arrangement with ombudsman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Part 3 Mediation of privacy complaints
171 Attempting resolution through mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
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172 Certification of mediated agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
173 Filing of certified agreement with Queensland Civil and
Administrative Tribunal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Part 4 Referral of privacy complaints to QCAT
174 Application of pt 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
175 Advice to parties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
176 Referral to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. . . . . . . 116
177 Parties to QCAT proceeding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
178 How QCAT may dispose of complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 1 Protections
179 Access--protection against actions for defamation or breach of
confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
180 Publication--protection against actions for defamation or breach
of confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
181 Access--protection in respect of offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
182 Publication--protection in respect of offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
183 Protection of agency, information commissioner etc. from
personal liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Part 2 Offences
184 Direction to act in particular way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
185 Unlawful access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
186 False or misleading information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
187 Failure to produce documents or attend proceedings . . . . . . . . . 122
188 Disclosure or taking advantage of information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 1 Archival documents
189 Operation of Public Records Act 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
190 Non-official documents in Queensland State Archives etc. . . . . . 124
191 Official documents in Queensland State Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Part 2 Operation of this Act
192 Review of Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
193 Reports of information commissioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
194 Report to Assembly on Act's operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
195 Functions of parliamentary committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Part 3 Other
196 Power of person acting for another person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
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197 Power of information commissioner for compliance notices and
privacy complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
198 Rules and procedures of Queensland Civil and Administrative
Tribunal ..................................... 129
199 Contents of prescribed written notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
200 Approval of forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
201 Regulation-making power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions
202 Delayed application of Act other than ch 3 to local governments. 130
203 Outdated references. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
204 Pre-enactment recruitment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
205 Refusal to deal with application--previous application for same
documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
206 Delayed filing of certified agreement with QCAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
207 Delayed referral of privacy complaint to QCAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
208 Delayed application to QCAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
209 Privacy complaints to relate to actions after ch 5
commencement ............................. 132
210 Continuing application of relevant information standards . . . . . . . 132
211 Acts and practices authorised before commencement. . . . . . . . . 133
Schedule 1 Documents to which the privacy principles do not apply . . . 134
1 Covert activity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
2 Witness protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
3 Disciplinary actions and misconduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4 Whistleblowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5 Cabinet and Executive Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6 Commissions of inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7 Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Schedule 2 Entities to which the privacy principles do not apply . . . . . . 136
Schedule 3 Information privacy principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
1 IPP 1--Collection of personal information (lawful and fair) . . . . . 138
2 IPP 2--Collection of personal information (requested from
individual) ....................................... 138
3 IPP 3--Collection of personal information (relevance etc.) . . . . . 139
4 IPP 4--Storage and security of personal information . . . . . . . . . 140
5 IPP 5--Providing information about documents containing
personal information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6 IPP 6--Access to documents containing personal information . . 141
Page 9
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Contents
7 IPP 7--Amendment of documents containing personal
information ..................................... 141
8 IPP 8--Checking of accuracy etc. of personal information before
use by agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
9 IPP 9--Use of personal information only for relevant purpose. . . 142
10 IPP 10--Limits on use of personal information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
11 IPP 11--Limits on disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Schedule 4 National privacy principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
1 NPP 1--Collection of personal information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
2 NPP 2--Limits on use or disclosure of personal information . . . . 148
3 NPP 3--Data quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
4 NPP 4--Data security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5 NPP 5--Openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6 NPP 6--Access to documents containing personal information . 153
7 NPP 7--Amendment of documents containing personal
information ...................................... 154
8 NPP 8--Anonymity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
9 NPP 9--Sensitive information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Schedule 5 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Page 10
2009
A Bill
for
An Act to provide safeguards for the handling of personal
information in the public sector environment, and to allow
access to and amendment of personal information
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 1 Introductory
[s 1]
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Chapter 1 Preliminary 2
Part 1 Introductory 3
1 Short title 4
This Act may be cited as the Information Privacy Act 2009. 5
2 Commencement 6
This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. 7
3 Object of Act 8
(1) The primary object of this Act is to provide for-- 9
(a) the fair collection and handling in the public sector 10
environment of personal information; and 11
(b) a right of access to, and amendment of, personal 12
information in the government's possession or under the 13
government's control unless, on balance, it is contrary to 14
the public interest to give the access or allow the 15
information to be amended. 16
(2) The Act must be applied and interpreted to further the primary 17
object. 18
4 Act not intended to prevent other accessing or 19
amendment of personal information 20
(1) This Act is not intended to prevent or discourage the giving of 21
access to, or allowing the amendment of, documents 22
otherwise than under this Act if the giving of access or the 23
Page 12
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 1 Introductory
[s 5]
allowing of amendment can properly be done or is permitted 1
or required to be done by law. 2
(2) To remove any doubt, it is declared that subsection (1) applies 3
to-- 4
(a) the giving of access to, or allowing the amendment of, 5
documents that are not documents for chapter 3 or 6
documents to which the privacy principles do not apply; 7
or 8
(b) the giving of access to, or allowing the amendment of, 9
documents by-- 10
(i) an entity that is not an entity for chapter 3; or 11
(ii) an entity to which the privacy principles do not 12
apply; or 13
(iii) an entity to which the privacy principles do not 14
apply in relation to a particular function. 15
5 Relationship with other Acts requiring access to or 16
amendment of personal information 17
Without limiting section 4, this Act does not affect the 18
operation of another Act, and chapter 3 does not affect the 19
operation of an administrative scheme, whether or not under 20
an Act, that-- 21
(a) requires information about personal information in the 22
possession, or under the control, of government to be 23
made available to members of the community; or 24
(b) enables an individual to be given access to or to amend 25
the individual's personal information in the possession, 26
or under the control, of government; 27
whether or not on payment of a charge. 28
Page 13
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 1 Introductory
[s 6]
6 Scope of personal information under this Act 1
This Act applies to the collection of personal information, 2
regardless of when it came into existence, and to the storage, 3
handling, accessing, amendment, management, transfer, use 4
and disclosure of personal information regardless of when it 5
was collected. 6
7 Relationship with other Acts prohibiting disclosure of 7
information 8
(1) Chapter 3 overrides the provisions of other Acts prohibiting 9
the disclosure of personal information (however described). 10
Notes-- 11
1 The Parliament considers that personal information the disclosure 12
of which is prohibited under a provision of an Act mentioned in the 13
Right to Information Act, schedule 3, section 12 is information the 14
disclosure of which would, on balance, be contrary to the public 15
interest--see the Right to Information Act, section 44(2)(a), as 16
applied under this Act, and schedule 3, section 12 of that Act. 17
2 This information is called exempt information and, under the Right 18
to Information Act, section 47(3)(a), as applied under this Act, an 19
agency or Minister may refuse access to a document to the extent 20
the document comprises exempt information. 21
3 However, an agency or Minister may give access to a document 22
even if this Act provides that access to the document may be 23
refused--see section 64(4). 24
(2) Other than as provided for in subsection (1), this Act is 25
intended to operate subject to the provisions of other Acts 26
relating to-- 27
(a) the collection, storage, handling, accessing, amendment, 28
management, transfer, and use of personal information; 29
and 30
(b) the disclosure, within the meaning of section 23, of 31
personal information. 32
Page 14
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 1 Introductory
[s 8]
8 Relationship with other Acts regulating disposal of 1
information 2
This Act does not affect the provisions of other Acts 3
regulating the disposal of information (however described). 4
Note-- 5
For example, the Public Records Act 2002, section 13 provides-- 6
13 Disposal of public records 7
A person must not dispose of a public record unless the record is 8
disposed of under-- 9
(a) an authority given by the archivist; or 10
(b) other legal authority, justification or excuse. 11
Maximum penalty--165 penalty units. 12
9 Relationship with Right to Information Act 13
(1) The Right to Information Act also provides for access to 14
documents of an agency or Minister. 15
(2) If, on its face, an access application made under the Right to 16
Information Act could have been made under this Act, the 17
Right to Information Act, section 34 applies. 18
Notes-- 19
1 Under the Right to Information Act, section 34-- 20
(a) the applicant is given an opportunity to have the application 21
dealt with under this Act and the application fee refunded; or 22
(b) the application may be continue to be dealt with as an 23
application under the Right to Information Act. 24
2 To facilitate this situation, the approved form for an access 25
application under the Right to Information Act is the same as the 26
approved form for an access application under this Act and 27
agencies will make appropriate administrative arrangements. 28
3 If the applicant asks for the application to be dealt with under this 29
Act, the applicant is taken to have made the application under this 30
Act on the date of the request--see the Right to Information Act, 31
section 34(3)(a). 32
Page 15
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 10]
10 Act binds State 1
This Act binds the State. 2
Part 2 Interpretation 3
11 Definitions 4
The dictionary in schedule 5 defines particular words used in 5
this Act. 6
12 Meaning of personal information 7
Personal information is information or an opinion, including 8
information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether 9
true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, 10
about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can 11
reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion. 12
13 Meaning of document of an agency for ch 3 13
For chapter 3, document, of an agency, means anything that is 14
a document of an agency under the Right to Information Act. 15
14 Meaning of document of a Minister for ch 3 16
For chapter 3, document, of a Minister means anything that is 17
a document of a Minister under the Right to Information Act. 18
15 Meaning of document otherwise 19
For this Act, other than for chapter 3, a document does not 20
include a document to which the privacy principles do not 21
apply. 22
Page 16
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 16]
16 Meaning of document to which the privacy principles do 1
not apply 2
In this Act, a document to which the privacy principles do 3
not apply means a document mentioned in schedule 1. 4
17 Meaning of agency for ch 3 5
For chapter 3, agency means anything that is an agency under 6
the Right to Information Act. 7
18 Meaning of agency otherwise 8
(1) For this Act, other than for chapter 3, an agency means-- 9
(a) a Minister; or 10
(b) a department; or 11
(c) a local government; or 12
(d) a public authority. 13
(2) However, for this Act other than for chapter 3, agency does 14
not include an entity to which the privacy principles do not 15
apply. 16
(3) For this Act-- 17
(a) a board, council, committee, subcommittee or other 18
body established by government to help, or to perform 19
functions connected with, an agency is not a separate 20
agency, but is taken to be comprised within the agency; 21
and 22
(b) a reference to an agency includes a reference to a body 23
that is taken to be comprised within the agency; and 24
(c) a reference to local government includes a reference to 25
the Wide Bay Water Corporation. 26
Page 17
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 19]
19 Meaning of entity to which the privacy principles do not 1
apply 2
In this Act, an entity to which the privacy principles do not 3
apply means-- 4
(a) an entity mentioned in schedule 2, part 1; or 5
(b) an entity mentioned in schedule 2, part 2 in relation to 6
the function mentioned in that part. 7
20 Special provision about application of Act other than ch 3 8
to a Minister 9
(1) If a provision of this Act applies to a Minister, the provision 10
applies only for acts done, or practices engaged in, as the case 11
may be, in the Minister's capacity as a Minister in relation to 12
the affairs of an agency administered by the Minister. 13
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to chapter 3, or to any other 14
provision of this Act to the extent it applies for the purposes of 15
chapter 3. 16
21 Meaning of public authority 17
(1) In this Act, public authority means any of the following 18
entities-- 19
Note-- 20
Under the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 36-- 21
entity includes a person and an unincorporated body. 22
(a) an entity-- 23
(i) established for a public purpose by an Act; or 24
(ii) established by government under an Act for a 25
public purpose, whether or not the public purpose 26
is stated in the Act; 27
(b) an entity created by the Governor in Council or a 28
Minister; 29
Page 18
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 22]
(c) another entity declared by regulation to be a public 1
authority for this Act, being an entity-- 2
(i) supported directly or indirectly by government 3
funds or other assistance or over which 4
government is in a position to exercise control; or 5
(ii) established under an Act; or 6
(iii) given public functions under an Act; 7
(d) subject to subsection (3), a person holding an office 8
established under an Act; 9
(e) a person holding an appointment-- 10
(i) made by the Governor in Council or Minister 11
otherwise than under an Act; and 12
(ii) declared by regulation to be an appointment the 13
holder of which is a public authority for this Act. 14
(2) A prescribed entity is not a public authority in relation to 15
documents received, or created, by it in performing a function 16
other than the public function given under an Act. 17
(3) A person is not a public authority merely because the person 18
holds-- 19
(a) an office the duties of which are performed as duties of 20
employment as an agency's officer; or 21
(b) an office of member of a body; or 22
(c) an office established under an Act for the purposes of an 23
agency. 24
(4) In this section-- 25
prescribed entity means an entity that is a public authority 26
only because it is given public functions under an Act and is 27
declared by regulation to be a public authority for this Act. 28
22 Meaning of processing period and transfer period for ch 3 29
For chapter 3-- 30
Page 19
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 23]
processing period, for an access or amendment application to 1
an agency or Minister-- 2
1 The processing period is a period of 25 business days 3
from the day the application is received by the agency or 4
Minister. 5
2 However, the following periods do not count as part of 6
the processing period-- 7
(a) if the application is transferred to the agency or 8
Minister--the transfer period; 9
(b) if the agency or Minister asks the applicant for a 10
further specified period under section 55(1)--the 11
period during which, under section 55(3), the 12
agency or Minister may continue to consider the 13
application; 14
(c) if the application involves consultation with a 15
relevant third party under section 56--10 business 16
days; 17
(d) if the applicant is given a notice under section 18
61(1)(a)--the prescribed consultation period under 19
section 61. 20
transfer period, for an access or amendment application, 21
means the lesser of the following periods-- 22
(a) the period starting on the day the application is received 23
by the agency or Minister who transfers the application 24
and ending on the day the application is transferred; 25
(b) the period of 10 business days. 26
23 What it means to disclose personal information and to 27
use personal information 28
(1) This section applies for the application of the privacy 29
principles. 30
(2) An entity (the first entity) discloses personal information to 31
another entity (the second entity) if-- 32
Page 20
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 1 Preliminary
Part 2 Interpretation
[s 24]
(a) the second entity does not know the personal 1
information, and is not in a position to be able to find it 2
out; and 3
(b) the first entity gives the second entity the personal 4
information, or places it in a position to be able to find it 5
out; and 6
(c) the first entity ceases to have control over the second 7
entity in relation to who will know the personal 8
information in the future. 9
(3) An entity uses personal information if it-- 10
(a) manipulates, searches or otherwise deals with the 11
information; or 12
(b) takes the information into account in the making of a 13
decision; or 14
(c) transfers the information from a part of the entity having 15
particular functions to a part of the entity having 16
different functions. 17
(4) Subsection (3) does not limit what actions may be use of the 18
personal information. 19
(5) However, use of the personal information does not include the 20
action of disclosing the personal information to another entity. 21
24 Meaning of control of a document 22
For the application of the privacy principles, an entity has a 23
document under its control if the entity has the document in 24
its possession or otherwise has the document under its control. 25
25 References to IPPs and NPPs 26
(1) If a provision of this Act refers to an IPP by a number, the 27
reference is a reference to the section of schedule 3 having 28
that number. 29
Page 21
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 1 Compliance with IPPs by agencies
[s 26]
(2) If a provision of this Act refers to an NPP by a number, the 1
reference is a reference to the section of schedule 4 having 2
that number. 3
Chapter 2 Privacy principles 4
Part 1 Compliance with IPPs by 5
agencies 6
26 Information Privacy Principles 7
The Information Privacy Principles are set out in schedule 3. 8
27 Agencies to comply with IPPs 9
(1) An agency, other than the health department, must comply 10
with the IPPs. 11
Note-- 12
Under section 18, an agency includes a Minister, a department, a local 13
government or a public authority. However, section 20 provides that for 14
the application of this Act, other than chapter 3, or this Act other than 15
for the purposes of chapter 3, to a Minister, the Act applies only for acts 16
done, or practices engaged in, as the case may be, in the Minister's 17
capacity as a Minister in relation to the affairs of an agency administered 18
by the Minister. 19
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the agency-- 20
(a) must not do an act, or engage in a practice, that 21
contravenes, or is otherwise inconsistent with a 22
requirement of, an IPP; and 23
(b) must not fail to do an act, or fail to engage in a practice, 24
if the failure contravenes, or is otherwise inconsistent 25
with a requirement of, an IPP. 26
Page 22
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 1 Compliance with IPPs by agencies
[s 28]
(3) An act or practice mentioned in subsection (2) includes any 1
act or practice relating to the agency's collection, storage, 2
handling, accessing, amendment, management, transfer, use 3
or disclosure of personal information. 4
28 Noncompliance with particular IPPs 5
(1) An agency is not required to comply with a prescribed IPP in 6
relation to an individual's personal information if the 7
information is related to or connected with personal 8
information of the individual that has previously been 9
published, or given for the purpose of publication, by the 10
individual. 11
(2) In this section-- 12
prescribed IPP means IPP 8, 9, 10 or 11. 13
Editor's note-- 14
IPP 8 (Checking of accuracy etc. of personal information before use by 15
agency), 9 (Use of personal information only for relevant purpose), 10 16
(Limits on use of personal information) or 11 (Limits on disclosure) 17
publish, for personal information, means to publish it to the 18
public by way of television, newspaper, radio, the internet or 19
other form of communication. 20
29 Special provision for law enforcement agencies 21
(1) A law enforcement agency is not subject to IPP 2, 3, 9, 10 or 22
11, but only if the law enforcement agency is satisfied on 23
reasonable grounds that noncompliance with the IPP is 24
necessary for-- 25
(a) if the enforcement agency is the Queensland Police 26
Service--the performance of its activities related to the 27
enforcement of laws; or 28
(b) if the enforcement agency is the Crime and Misconduct 29
Commission--the performance of its activities related 30
to the enforcement of laws and its intelligence functions; 31
or 32
Page 23
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 2 Compliance with NPPs
[s 30]
(c) if the enforcement agency is the community safety 1
department--the containment, supervision and 2
rehabilitation of offenders under the Corrective Services 3
Act 2006 and the supervision of prisoners subject to 4
supervision orders or interim supervision orders under 5
the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003; 6
or 7
(d) if the enforcement agency is any other law enforcement 8
agency--the performance of its responsibility 9
mentioned in schedule 5, definition law enforcement 10
agency, paragraph (d), including the conduct of 11
proceedings started or about to be started in a court or 12
tribunal in relation to the responsibility. 13
(2) In this section-- 14
intelligence functions means the functions mentioned in the 15
Crime and Misconduct Act 2001, section 53. 16
Part 2 Compliance with NPPs 17
30 National Privacy Principles 18
The National Privacy Principles are set out in schedule 4. 19
Editor's note-- 20
The principles set out in schedule 4 are called the National Privacy 21
Principles in this Act because of their correspondence to the National 22
Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth), schedule 3. 23
The NPPs, rather than the IPPs, are applied to the health department 24
under this chapter because of particular arrangements applying 25
nationally to the health department, corresponding entities in other 26
Australian jurisdictions and the private health sector. 27
31 Health department to comply with NPPs 28
(1) The health department must comply with the NPPs. 29
Page 24
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 2 Compliance with NPPs
[s 32]
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the health department-- 1
(a) must not do an act, or engage in a practice, that 2
contravenes, or is otherwise inconsistent with a 3
requirement of, an NPP; and 4
(b) must not fail to do an act, or fail to engage in a practice, 5
if the failure contravenes, or is otherwise inconsistent 6
with a requirement of, an NPP. 7
(3) An act or practice mentioned in subsection (2) includes any 8
act or practice relating to the health department's collection, 9
storage, handling, accessing, amendment, management, 10
transfer, use or disclosure of personal information. 11
32 Noncompliance with particular NPPs 12
(1) The health department is not required to comply with a 13
prescribed NPP in relation to an individual's personal 14
information if the information is related to or connected with 15
personal information of the individual that has previously 16
been published, or given for the purpose of publication, by the 17
individual. 18
(2) In this section-- 19
prescribed NPP means-- 20
(a) NPP 2; or 21
(b) NPP 3, but only in relation to use or disclosure of 22
personal information; or 23
(c) NPP 9(4). 24
Editor's note-- 25
NPP 2 (Limits on use or disclosure of personal information), 3 (Data 26
quality) or 9 (Sensitive information) 27
publish, for personal information, means to publish it to the 28
public by way of television, newspaper, radio, the internet or 29
other form of communication. 30
Page 25
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 3 Transfer of personal information outside Australia
[s 33]
Part 3 Transfer of personal 1
information outside Australia 2
33 Transfer of personal information outside Australia 3
An agency may transfer an individual's personal information 4
to an entity outside Australia only if-- 5
(a) the individual agrees to the transfer; or 6
(b) the transfer is authorised or required under a law; or 7
(c) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the 8
transfer is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat 9
to the life, health, safety or welfare of an individual, or 10
to public health, safety or welfare; or 11
(d) 2 or more of the following apply-- 12
(i) the agency reasonably believes that the recipient of 13
the personal information is subject to a law, 14
binding scheme or contract that effectively upholds 15
principles for the fair handling of personal 16
information that are substantially similar to the 17
IPPs or, if the agency is the health department, the 18
NPPs; 19
(ii) the transfer is necessary for the performance of the 20
agency's functions in relation to the individual; 21
(iii) the transfer is for the benefit of the individual but it 22
is not practicable to seek the agreement of the 23
individual, and if it were practicable to seek the 24
agreement of the individual, the individual would 25
be likely to give the agreement; 26
(iv) the agency has taken reasonable steps to ensure 27
that the personal information it transfers will not be 28
held, used or disclosed by the recipient of the 29
information in a way that is inconsistent with the 30
IPPs or, if the agency is the health department, the 31
NPPs. 32
Page 26
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 4 Compliance with parts 1 to 3 by contracted service providers
[s 34]
Part 4 Compliance with parts 1 to 3 by 1
contracted service providers 2
34 Meaning of service arrangement 3
(1) In this Act, a service arrangement is a contract or other 4
arrangement entered into after the commencement of this 5
section under which an entity other than an agency (the 6
contracted service provider) agrees or otherwise arranges 7
with an agency (the contracting agency) to provide services. 8
(2) For subsection (1)-- 9
(a) the services must be for the purposes of the performance 10
of 1 or more of the contracting agency's functions; and 11
(b) the services must be provided either-- 12
(i) directly to the contracting agency; or 13
(ii) to another entity on the contracting agency's 14
behalf; and 15
(c) the contracted service provider must not be in the 16
capacity of employee of the contracting agency in 17
providing the services. 18
35 Binding a contracted service provider to privacy 19
principles 20
(1) An agency entering into a service arrangement must take all 21
reasonable steps to ensure that the contracted service provider 22
is required to comply with part 1 or 2 and part 3, as if it were 23
the agency, in relation to the discharge of its obligations under 24
the arrangement. 25
(2) However, the agency must comply with subsection (1) only 26
if-- 27
(a) the contracted service provider will in any way deal with 28
personal information for the contracting agency; or 29
Page 27
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 4 Compliance with parts 1 to 3 by contracted service providers
[s 36]
(b) the provision of services under the arrangement will 1
involve-- 2
(i) the transfer of personal information to the 3
contracting agency; or 4
(ii) the provision of services to a third party for the 5
contracting agency. 6
(3) The agency is not required to comply with subsection (1) if-- 7
(a) the contracted service provider is to receive funding 8
from the contracting agency; and 9
(b) the contracted service provider will not collect personal 10
information for the contracting agency; and 11
(c) the contracted service provider will not receive any 12
personal information from the contracting agency for 13
the purposes of discharging its obligations; and 14
(d) the contracted service provider will not be required to 15
give the contracting agency any personal information it 16
collects in discharging its obligations. 17
(4) Subsections (1) to (3) are not intended to limit what may be 18
provided for in a service arrangement about the contracted 19
service provider's collection, storage, handling, accessing, 20
amendment, management, transfer, use or disclosure of 21
personal information, whether or not the contracted service 22
provider is a bound contracted service provider. 23
36 Bound contracted service provider to comply with 24
privacy principles 25
(1) A bound contracted service provider under a service 26
arrangement must comply with part 1 or 2 and part 3 in 27
relation to the discharge of its obligations under the 28
arrangement as if it were the entity that is the contracting 29
agency. 30
(2) The requirement to comply under subsection (1) continues to 31
apply to the bound contracted service provider in relation to 32
Page 28
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 2 Privacy principles
Part 5 Provision of information to Ministers
[s 37]
personal information it continues to hold after its obligations 1
under the service arrangement otherwise end. 2
(3) A bound contracted service provider's compliance with part 1 3
or 2 and part 3 may be enforced under this Act as if it were an 4
agency. 5
(4) Subsections (1) to (3) are not intended to prevent a service 6
arrangement from including a requirement for the contracted 7
service provider to comply with all or part of the privacy 8
principles even though this part does not require that the 9
service arrangement include the requirement. 10
37 Contracting agency to comply with privacy principles if 11
contracted service provider not bound 12
(1) This section applies if a contracted service provider under a 13
service arrangement is not a bound contracted service 14
provider because the contracting agency under the service 15
arrangement did not take the steps required of it under section 16
35. 17
(2) The obligations that would attach to the contracted service 18
provider if it were a bound contracted service provider attach 19
instead to the contracting agency under the arrangement. 20
Part 5 Provision of information to 21
Ministers 22
38 Personal information relevant to portfolio responsibilities 23
An agency does not contravene the requirement under this Act 24
that it comply with the IPPs or NPPs only because it gives 25
personal information to a Minister to inform the Minister 26
about matters relevant to the Minister's responsibilities in 27
relation to the agency. 28
Page 29
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 6 Miscellaneous
[s 39]
Part 6 Miscellaneous 1
39 Nature of rights created by pts 1 to 3 2
(1) Except as provided for under the procedures set out in this 3
Act, an obligation imposed on an entity under part 1, 2 or 3 4
does not-- 5
(a) give rise to any civil cause of action; or 6
(b) operate to create in any person any legal right 7
enforceable in a court or tribunal. 8
(2) Subsection (1) does not limit chapter 5. 9
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment 10
by application under this 11
Act 12
Part 1 Right to access and 13
amendment 14
40 Right to be given access to particular documents 15
(1) Subject to this Act, an individual has a right to be given access 16
under this Act to-- 17
(a) documents of an agency to the extent they contain the 18
individual's personal information; and 19
(b) documents of a Minister to the extent they contain the 20
individual's personal information. 21
Notes-- 22
1 See part 2 for how to exercise this right to access. 23
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 1 Right to access and amendment
[s 41]
2 Exclusions of the right are provided for under the Right to 1
Information Act, chapter 3, part 4 (which provides particular 2
circumstances where an entity may refuse to deal with an 3
application); and section 67 (which applies the Right to Information 4
Act, section 47 which in turn provides grounds on which an entity 5
may refuse access). 6
3 A limitation on the right is provided for under section 88 (which 7
provides that, in particular circumstances, an entity may delete 8
irrelevant information from a document before giving access). 9
(2) Subsection (1) applies to documents even if they came into 10
existence before the commencement of this Act. 11
Note-- 12
Section 47 deems an access application to apply only to documents that 13
are, or may be, in existence on the day the application is received. 14
41 Right to amend personal information in particular 15
documents 16
(1) Subject to this Act, an individual has a right under this Act to 17
amend, if inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading-- 18
(a) documents of an agency to the extent they contain the 19
individual's personal information; and 20
(b) documents of a Minister to the extent they contain the 21
individual's personal information. 22
Notes-- 23
1 See part 2 for how to exercise this right to amend. 24
2 Exclusions of the right are provided for under section 46 (which 25
provides an amendment application may not be made to the 26
information commissioner), part 4 (which provides particular 27
circumstances where an entity may refuse to deal with an 28
application) and section 72 (which provides grounds on which an 29
entity may refuse amendment). 30
(2) Subsection (1) applies to documents even if they came into 31
existence before the commencement of this Act. 32
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 42]
42 Other ways of accessing or amending personal 1
information 2
Personal information may be accessed or amended other than 3
by application under this chapter. 4
Examples-- 5
1 A document may be accessed under administrative arrangements 6
made by an agency. 7
2 A public service employee may access his or her employee record 8
by application under the Public Service Regulation 2008. 9
3 A document may be commercially available. 10
Part 2 Access and amendment 11
applications 12
43 Making access application 13
(1) An individual who wishes to be given access to a document of 14
an agency or a document of a Minister under this Act to the 15
extent it contains the individual's personal information may 16
apply to the agency or Minister for access to the document. 17
Notes-- 18
1 Minister is defined to include a Parliamentary Secretary--see 19
schedule 5. 20
2 Section 45 provides for access applications by parents for children 21
and section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for others. 22
3 For an application made for a person, the person (and not the agent) 23
is the applicant--see schedule 5, definition applicant. 24
(2) The access application must-- 25
(a) be in the approved form; and 26
(b) give sufficient information concerning the document to 27
enable a responsible officer of the agency or the 28
Minister to identify the document; and 29
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 44]
(c) state an address to which notices under this Act may be 1
sent to the applicant. 2
(3) Also, the applicant must provide with the application or 3
within 10 business days after making the application-- 4
(a) evidence of identity for the applicant; and 5
(b) if an agent is acting for the applicant-- evidence of the 6
agent's authorisation and evidence of identity for the 7
agent. 8
Examples of an agent's authorisation-- 9
· the will or court order appointing the agent to act as the 10
applicant's guardian 11
· the client agreement authorising a legal practitioner to act 12
for an applicant 13
· if the application is made in reliance on section 45, evidence 14
the agent is the child's parent 15
(4) In this section-- 16
evidence of identity means the evidence of identity prescribed 17
under a regulation. 18
44 Making amendment application 19
(1) An individual who has had access to a document of an agency 20
or a document of a Minister, whether or not under this Act, 21
may apply to the agency or Minister for amendment of any 22
part of the individual's personal information contained in the 23
document that the individual claims is inaccurate, incomplete, 24
out of date or misleading. 25
Notes-- 26
1 Minister is defined to include a Parliamentary Secretary--see 27
schedule 5. 28
2 Section 45 provides for amendment applications by parents for 29
children and section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for 30
others. 31
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 44]
(2) For subsection (1), the reference to an individual who has had 1
access to a document includes a reference to an individual 2
whose agent has had access to the document. 3
(3) Without limiting how an agent may be authorised for this 4
section in relation to an applicant who is deceased, an agent 5
may include-- 6
(a) an eligible family member of the deceased person; or 7
(b) a person the agency or Minister considers has an 8
appropriate interest in the amendment of the personal 9
information. 10
(4) The amendment application must-- 11
(a) be in the approved form; and 12
(b) provide sufficient information concerning the document 13
to enable a responsible officer of the agency or the 14
Minister to identify the document; and 15
(c) state an address to which notices under this Act may be 16
sent to the applicant; and 17
(d) state the information the applicant claims is inaccurate, 18
incomplete, out of date or misleading; and 19
(e) state the way in which the applicant claims the 20
information to be inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or 21
misleading and the grounds for the applicant's claim; 22
and 23
(f) if the applicant claims the information to be inaccurate 24
or misleading--state the amendments the applicant 25
claims are necessary for the information to be accurate 26
or not misleading; and 27
(g) if the applicant claims the information to be incomplete 28
or out of date--state the other information the applicant 29
claims is necessary to complete the information or to 30
bring it up to date. 31
(5) Also, the applicant must provide with the application or 32
within 10 business days after making the application-- 33
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 45]
(a) evidence of identity for the applicant; and 1
(b) if an agent is acting for the applicant--evidence of the 2
agent's authorisation and evidence of identity for the 3
agent. 4
Examples of an agent's authorisation-- 5
· the will or court order appointing the agent to act as the 6
applicant's guardian 7
· the client agreement authorising a legal practitioner to act 8
for an applicant 9
· if the application is made in reliance on section 45, evidence 10
the agent is the child's parent 11
(6) In this section-- 12
evidence of identity means the evidence of identity prescribed 13
under a regulation. 14
45 Making access or amendment applications for children 15
(1) Without limiting the ability of persons to make access or 16
amendment applications for children, an access or amendment 17
application may be made for the child by the child's parent. 18
Note-- 19
1 Section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for others. 20
2 For an application made for a child, the child (and not the parent) is 21
the applicant--see schedule 5, definition applicant. 22
(2) In this section-- 23
child means an individual who is under 18 years. 24
parent-- 25
1 Parent, of a child, is any of the following persons-- 26
(a) the child's mother; 27
(b) the child's father; 28
(c) a person who exercises parental responsibility for 29
the child, including a person who is granted 30
guardianship of the child under the Child 31
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 46]
Protection Act 1999 or who otherwise exercises 1
parental responsibility for the child under a 2
decision or order of a federal court or a court of a 3
State. 4
2 However, a person standing in the place of a parent of a 5
child on a temporary basis is not a parent of the child. 6
3 A parent of an Aboriginal child includes a person who, 7
under Aboriginal tradition, is regarded as a parent of the 8
child. 9
4 A parent of a Torres Strait Islander child includes a 10
person who, under Island custom, is regarded as a parent 11
of the child. 12
46 Access or amendment application may not be made to 13
commissioner 14
(1) An access or amendment application may not be made or 15
transferred to the information commissioner, other than in 16
relation to personal information of the staff of the OIC. 17
(2) An access or amendment application may not be made or 18
transferred to the RTI commissioner or the privacy 19
commissioner. 20
47 Application for documents then existing 21
(1) An access application is taken only to apply to documents that 22
are, or may be, in existence on the day the application is 23
received. 24
(2) However, subsection (1) does not prevent an agency or 25
Minister giving access to a document created after the 26
application is received but before notice is given under section 27
68 (a post-application document). 28
(3) If the agency or Minister gives an applicant access to a 29
post-application document-- 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 2 Access and amendment applications
[s 48]
(a) no access charge is payable in relation to the document; 1
and 2
(b) the applicant is not entitled to review under this Act of a 3
decision about the document made in relation to the 4
application. 5
48 Application for metadata 6
(1) An access application for a document is taken not to include 7
an application for access to metadata about the document 8
unless the access application expressly states that it does. 9
(2) If an access application for a document expressly states that 10
access to metadata about the document is sought, access to the 11
metadata does not need to be given unless access is 12
reasonably practicable. 13
(3) In this section-- 14
metadata, about a document, includes information about the 15
document's content, author, publication date and physical 16
location. 17
49 Application not for backup system documents 18
(1) An access application, however expressed, for a document 19
does not require an agency or Minister to search for the 20
document from a backup system. 21
(2) However, subsection (1) does not prevent an agency or 22
Minister searching for a document from a backup system if 23
the agency or Minister considers the search appropriate. 24
Note-- 25
While a search for a document from a backup system is not generally 26
required before refusing access on the ground that the document is 27
nonexistent or unlocatable, a search is required in the particular 28
circumstances mentioned in the Right to Information Act, section 52(2), 29
as applied under this Act. 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 50]
Part 3 Dealing with application 1
Division 1 Decision-maker 2
50 Decision-maker for application to agency 3
(1) An access or amendment application to an agency must be 4
dealt with for the agency by the agency's principal officer. 5
(2) The agency's principal officer may delegate the power to deal 6
with the application to another officer of the agency. 7
(3) Also, for an agency other than a local government, the 8
agency's principal officer may, with the agreement of another 9
agency's principal officer, delegate the power to deal with the 10
application to the other agency's principal officer. 11
(4) The principal officer of the other agency may subdelegate a 12
power delegated to him or her under subsection (3). 13
Note-- 14
Under the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 27A(2), a delegation 15
may be revoked, wholly or partly, by the delegator. Accordingly, a 16
delegation may be revoked before a decision is made in a particular case 17
and the delegator may make the decision. 18
(5) However-- 19
(a) a principal officer may not, under subsection (2) or (4) 20
delegate the power to deal with the application to the 21
extent it involves-- 22
(i) making a healthcare decision; or 23
(ii) appointing a healthcare professional under 24
paragraph (b); but 25
(b) the agency may appoint an appropriately qualified 26
healthcare professional to make a healthcare decision in 27
relation to the application. 28
(6) In this section-- 29
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 51]
healthcare decision means a decision about any of the 1
following matters-- 2
(a) whether disclosure to the applicant of relevant 3
healthcare information about the applicant might be 4
prejudicial to the physical or mental health or wellbeing 5
of the applicant under the Right to Information Act, 6
section 51, as applied under this Act; 7
(b) whether to refuse access under the Right to Information 8
Act, section 47(3)(d), as applied under this Act; 9
(c) whether to give access despite being able to refuse 10
access under the Right to Information Act, section 11
47(3)(d), as applied under this Act; 12
(d) whether to give a direction under section 92(2); 13
(e) whether to approve a healthcare professional under 14
section 92(2). 15
51 Decision-maker for application to Minister 16
(1) An access or amendment application to a Minister may be 17
dealt with by the person the Minister directs, either generally 18
or in a particular case. 19
(2) However-- 20
(a) the Minister may not direct the person to deal with the 21
application to the extent it involves-- 22
(i) making a healthcare decision; or 23
(ii) appointing a healthcare professional under 24
paragraph (b); but 25
(b) the Minister may appoint an appropriately qualified 26
healthcare professional to make a healthcare decision in 27
relation to the application. 28
(3) In this section-- 29
healthcare decision see section 50. 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 52]
Division 2 Preliminary contact with applicant 1
52 Application outside scope of Act 2
(1) This section applies if-- 3
(a) a person purports to make an application under this 4
chapter to an entity for access to or to amend a 5
document; and 6
(b) the entity decides the application is outside the scope of 7
this Act for 1 or more of the following reasons-- 8
(i) the document is not a document of an agency for 9
this chapter; 10
(ii) the entity is not an agency for this chapter; 11
(iii) the application is made to the information 12
commissioner, RTI commissioner or privacy 13
commissioner. 14
(2) Within 10 business days after the purported application is 15
received, the entity must give prescribed written notice to the 16
applicant of the decision. 17
53 Noncompliance with application requirement 18
(1) This section applies if-- 19
(a) a person purports to make an access or amendment 20
application for a document to an agency or Minister; and 21
(b) the application does not comply with all relevant 22
application requirements for the application. 23
(2) The agency or Minister must make reasonable efforts to 24
contact the person within 15 business days after the purported 25
application is received and inform the person how the 26
application does not comply with a relevant application 27
requirement. 28
(3) An agency or Minister must not refuse to deal with an 29
application because it does not comply with all relevant 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 54]
application requirements without first giving the applicant a 1
reasonable opportunity to consult with a view to making an 2
application in a form complying with all relevant application 3
requirements. 4
(4) The applicant is taken to have made an application under this 5
Act if and when the application is made in a form complying 6
with all relevant application requirements. 7
(5) If, after giving the opportunity mentioned in subsection (3) 8
and any consultation, an agency or Minister decides the 9
application does not comply with all relevant application 10
requirements, the agency or Minister must, within 10 business 11
days after making the decision, give the applicant prescribed 12
written notice of the decision. 13
(6) In this section-- 14
relevant application requirement means-- 15
(a) for an access application--a matter set out in section 16
43(2) or (3) that is required for the application; or 17
(b) for an amendment application--a matter set out in 18
section 44(4) and (5) that is required for the application. 19
54 Access application not limited to personal information 20
(1) This section applies if, on its face, an access application 21
purportedly made under this Act should have been made 22
under the Right to Information Act because the application is 23
for access to a document other than to the extent it contains 24
the applicant's personal information. 25
(2) The agency or Minister must make reasonable efforts to 26
contact the applicant within 15 business days after the 27
application is received and inform the applicant that-- 28
(a) the application is not an application that can be made 29
under this Act; and 30
(b) the application could have been made under the Right to 31
Information Act upon payment of the application fee 32
payable under that Act; and 33
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 55]
(c) the applicant may consult with the agency or Minister 1
with a view to-- 2
(i) making an application under this Act by changing 3
the application; or 4
(ii) having the application dealt with under the Right to 5
Information Act by paying the application fee. 6
(3) An agency or Minister must not refuse to deal with an 7
application purportedly made under this Act without first 8
giving the applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult as 9
mentioned in subsection (2)(c). 10
(4) If the application fee is paid, the applicant is taken to have 11
made the application under the Right to Information Act on 12
the date of the payment. 13
(5) However-- 14
(a) the application continues to be dealt with as an 15
application under this Act if, after the opportunity 16
mentioned in subsection (3) is given and any 17
consultation happens, the applicant does not either 18
change the application, or pay the fee, as mentioned in 19
subsection (2)(c); and 20
(b) the agency or Minister must again consider whether the 21
application is an application that can be made under this 22
Act and, within 10 days of deciding that matter, give the 23
applicant prescribed written notice of the decision. 24
55 Longer processing period 25
(1) At any time before a deemed decision is taken to have been 26
made in relation to an access or amendment application, the 27
agency or Minister may ask the applicant for a further 28
specified period to consider the application. 29
(2) Additional requests for further specified periods may be made 30
under subsection (1). 31
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 56]
(3) The agency or Minister may continue to consider the 1
application and make a considered decision in relation to it 2
only if-- 3
(a) the agency or Minister has asked the applicant for a 4
further specified period under subsection (1); and 5
(b) the applicant has not refused the request; and 6
(c) the agency or Minister has not received notice that the 7
applicant has applied for review. 8
(4) If a considered decision is made, the considered decision 9
replaces any deemed decision for the purposes of this Act. 10
Note-- 11
The agency or Minister must give notice of the considered decision 12
under section 65 or 70 and the considered decision is potentially subject 13
to internal review and external review. 14
Division 3 Contact with relevant third party 15
56 Disclosure of concern to third party 16
(1) An agency or Minister may give access to a document that 17
contains information the disclosure of which may reasonably 18
be expected to be of concern to a government, agency or 19
person (the relevant third party) only if the agency or 20
Minister has taken the steps that are reasonably practicable to 21
obtain the views of the relevant third party about whether-- 22
(a) the document is a document for this chapter; or 23
(b) the information is exempt information or contrary to 24
public interest information. 25
(2) If disclosure of information may reasonably be expected to be 26
of concern to a person but for the fact that the person is 27
deceased, subsection (1) applies as if the person's 28
representative were a relevant third party. 29
(3) If-- 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 56]
(a) the agency or Minister obtains the views of the relevant 1
third party and the relevant third party considers-- 2
(i) the document is not a document for this chapter; or 3
(ii) the information is exempt information or contrary 4
to public interest information; but 5
(b) the agency or Minister decides-- 6
(i) the document is a document for this chapter; or 7
(ii) the information is not exempt information or 8
contrary to public interest information; 9
the agency or Minister must-- 10
(c) give prescribed written notice of the decision of the 11
agency or Minister to the applicant and the relevant third 12
party; and 13
(d) defer giving access to the document until after-- 14
(i) the agency or Minister is given written notice by 15
the relevant third party that it does not intend to 16
make any application for review under this Act; or 17
(ii) if notice is not given under subparagraph (i) and no 18
application for review under this Act is made by 19
the end of the review period--the end of the review 20
period; or 21
(iii) if an application for review is made by the end of 22
the review period--the review has ended (whether 23
because of an informal resolution or because of a 24
decision of the entity conducting the review). 25
(4) The agency or Minister must give the applicant written notice 26
when access is no longer deferred under subsection (3)(d). 27
(5) In this section-- 28
representative, in relation to a deceased person, means the 29
deceased person's eligible family member, or, if 2 or more 30
persons qualify as the deceased person's eligible family 31
member, 1 of those persons. 32
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 3 Dealing with application
[s 57]
review period means the period within which any application 1
for review under this Act may be made. 2
Division 4 Transfers 3
57 Transfer of access or amendment application 4
(1) In this section-- 5
agency includes a Minister. 6
(2) An agency to which an access or amendment application has 7
been made (the original agency) may transfer the application 8
to another agency if-- 9
(a) the document to which the application relates is not in 10
the original agency's possession but is, to the original 11
agency's knowledge, in the other agency's possession; 12
and 13
(b) the other agency consents to the transfer. 14
(3) An application that is transferred from 1 agency to another 15
agency is taken to have been made to the other agency. 16
(4) If-- 17
(a) an application is made to an agency for access to or 18
amendment of more than 1 document; and 19
(b) 1 or more of the documents is a document mentioned in 20
subsection (2)(a); 21
this section applies to each of the documents as if separate 22
access or amendment applications had been made to the 23
agency for each of the documents. 24
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
[s 58]
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or 1
amendment application 2
58 Pro-disclosure bias and pro-amendment bias in deciding 3
to deal with applications 4
(1) It is the Parliament's intention that if an access or amendment 5
application is made to an agency or Minister, the agency or 6
Minister should deal with the application unless this would 7
not be in the public interest. 8
(2) Sections 59, 60 and 62 state the only circumstances in which 9
the Parliament considers it would not be in the public interest 10
to deal with an access application. 11
(3) Section 60 states the only circumstances in which the 12
Parliament considers it would not be in the public interest to 13
deal with an amendment application. 14
(4) However, it is the Parliament's intention that this Act should 15
be administered with a pro-disclosure bias and 16
pro-amendment bias and an agency or Minister may deal with 17
an access or amendment application even if this Act provides 18
that the agency or Minister may refuse to deal with the 19
application. 20
59 Exempt information 21
(1) This section applies if-- 22
(a) an access application is expressed to relate to all 23
documents, or to all documents of a stated class, that 24
contain information of a stated kind or relate to a stated 25
subject matter; and 26
(b) it appears to the agency or Minister that all of the 27
documents to which the application relates are 28
comprised of exempt information. 29
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
[s 60]
(2) The agency or Minister may refuse to deal with the 1
application without having identified any or all of the 2
documents. 3
60 Effect on agency's or Minister's functions 4
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse to deal with an access or 5
amendment application, or, if the agency or Minister is 6
considering 2 or more access or amendment applications by 7
the applicant, all the applications, if the agency or Minister 8
considers the work involved in dealing with the application or 9
all the applications would, if carried out-- 10
(a) substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of 11
the agency from their use by the agency in the 12
performance of its functions; or 13
(b) interfere substantially and unreasonably with the 14
performance by the Minister of the Minister's functions. 15
(2) Without limiting the matters to which the agency or Minister 16
may have regard in making a decision under subsection (1), 17
the agency or Minister must have regard to the resources that 18
would have to be used-- 19
(a) in identifying, locating or collating any document in the 20
filing system of the agency or the Minister's office; or 21
(b) for an access application--in deciding whether to give, 22
refuse or defer access to any documents, or to give 23
access to an edited copy of any documents, including 24
resources that would have to be used-- 25
(i) in examining any document; or 26
(ii) in consulting in relation to the application with a 27
relevant third party under section 56; or 28
(c) in making a copy, or edited copy, of any document; or 29
(d) in notifying any final decision on the application. 30
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
[s 61]
(3) In deciding whether to refuse, under subsection (1), to deal 1
with an access or amendment application, an agency or 2
Minister must not have regard to-- 3
(a) any reasons the applicant gives for applying for access 4
or amendment; or 5
(b) the agency's or Minister's belief about what are the 6
applicant's reasons for applying for access or 7
amendment. 8
61 Prerequisites before refusal because of effect on 9
functions 10
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse to deal with an access or 11
amendment application under section 60 only if-- 12
(a) the agency or Minister has given the applicant a written 13
notice-- 14
(i) stating an intention to refuse to deal with the 15
application; and 16
(ii) advising that, for the prescribed consultation 17
period for the notice, the applicant may consult 18
with the agency or Minister with a view to making 19
an application in a form that would remove the 20
ground for refusal; and 21
(iii) stating the effect of subsections (2) to (6); and 22
(b) the agency or Minister has given the applicant a 23
reasonable opportunity to consult with the agency or 24
Minister; and 25
(c) the agency or Minister has, as far as is reasonably 26
practicable, given the applicant any information that 27
would help the making of an application in a form that 28
would remove the ground for refusal. 29
(2) Following any consultation, the applicant may give the agency 30
or Minister written notice either confirming or narrowing the 31
application. 32
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
[s 62]
(3) If the application is narrowed, section 60 applies in relation to 1
the changed application but this section does not apply to it. 2
(4) If the applicant fails to consult after being given notice under 3
subsection (1), the applicant is taken to have withdrawn the 4
application at the end of the prescribed consultation period. 5
(5) Without limiting subsection (4), the applicant is taken to have 6
failed to consult if, by the end of the prescribed consultation 7
period, the applicant has not given the named officer or 8
member written notice under subsection (2). 9
(6) In this section-- 10
prescribed consultation period, for a written notice under 11
subsection (1)(a), means-- 12
(a) the period of 10 business days after the date of the 13
notice; or 14
(b) the longer period agreed by the agency or Minister and 15
the applicant whether before or after the end of the 10 16
business days mentioned in paragraph (a). 17
62 Previous application for same documents--access 18
application 19
(1) This section applies if-- 20
(a) an applicant makes an access application, whether under 21
this Act or the Right to Information Act, to an agency or 22
Minister (the first application); and 23
(b) the applicant makes another access application under 24
this Act (the later application) to the same agency or 25
Minister for access to 1 or more of the same documents 26
sought under the first application and the later 27
application does not, on its face, disclose any reasonable 28
basis for again seeking access to the document or 29
documents. 30
(2) For subsection (1)(a)-- 31
(a) the first application, if made under this Act-- 32
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 4 Refusal to deal with access or amendment application
[s 62]
(i) does not include an access application taken to 1
have been withdrawn under section 61(4); and 2
(ii) if an access application has been narrowed under 3
section 61--means only the access application as 4
changed; and 5
(b) the first application, if made under the Right to 6
Information Act-- 7
(i) does not include an access application taken to 8
have been withdrawn under section 42(4) of that 9
Act; and 10
(ii) if an access application has been narrowed under 11
section 42 of that Act--means only the access 12
application as changed. 13
(3) The agency or Minister may refuse to deal with the later 14
application to the extent it is for access to a document or 15
documents sought under the first application if -- 16
(a) when the later application was made, the agency or 17
Minister had not decided the first application; or 18
(b) in relation to the first application if made under this 19
Act-- 20
(i) the applicant had been given notice under section 21
68 that access was to be given to the document 22
sought or to some or all of the documents sought; 23
or 24
(ii) the agency or Minister had decided that the 25
application was for a document to which this 26
chapter does not apply; or 27
(iii) the agency or Minister had decided the document 28
or documents sought were documents access to 29
which was refused under section 67; or 30
(iv) the agency or Minister had refused to deal with it 31
under this part; or 32
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[s 62]
(c) in relation to the first application, if made under the 1
Right to Information Act-- 2
(i) the applicant had been given notice under section 3
54 of that Act that access was to be given to the 4
document sought or to some or all the documents 5
sought; or 6
(ii) the agency or Minister had decided that the 7
application was for a document to which that Act 8
does not apply; or 9
(iii) the agency or Minister had decided the document 10
or documents sought were documents access to 11
which was refused under section 47 of that Act; or 12
(iv) the agency or Minister had refused to deal with it 13
under chapter 3, part 4 of that Act; or 14
(d) the agency's or Minister's decision on the first 15
application-- 16
(i) is the subject of a review and the review is not 17
complete; or 18
(ii) has been the subject of a completed review (other 19
than an internal review). 20
(4) For subsection (3), if a document sought under the later 21
application is merely a record of the first application having 22
been made (a record document), access to a record document 23
is taken to have been sought under the first application. 24
(5) For subsection (3)(d)-- 25
review means-- 26
(a) an internal review under this Act or the Right to 27
Information Act; or 28
(b) an external review under this Act or the Right to 29
Information Act; or 30
(c) a proceeding under part 11 or under the Right to 31
Information Act, chapter 3, part 11. 32
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[s 63]
(6) For subsection (3)(d), a review is complete if the review has 1
ended because of an informal resolution or because of a 2
decision of the entity conducting the review. 3
63 Previous application for same documents--amendment 4
application 5
(1) This section applies if-- 6
(a) an applicant makes an amendment application to an 7
agency or Minister (the first application); and 8
(b) the applicant makes another amendment application (the 9
later application) to the same agency or Minister for 10
amendment of 1 or more of the same documents sought 11
to be amended under the first application and the later 12
application does not, on its face, disclose any reasonable 13
basis for again seeking the amendment of the document 14
or documents. 15
(2) For subsection (1)(a), the first application-- 16
(a) does not include an amendment application taken to 17
have been withdrawn under section 61(4); and 18
(b) if an amendment application has been narrowed within 19
the meaning of section 61--means only the application 20
as changed. 21
(3) The agency or Minister may refuse to deal with the later 22
application to the extent it is for amendment of a document or 23
documents sought to be amended, under the first application 24
if-- 25
(a) when the later application was made, the agency or 26
Minister had not decided the first application; or 27
(b) in relation to the first application-- 28
(i) the applicant had been given notice under section 29
73 that amendment was to be allowed for the 30
document sought to be amended or for some or all 31
of the documents sought to be amended; or 32
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[s 63]
(ii) the agency or Minister had decided that the 1
application was for a document to which this 2
chapter does not apply; or 3
(iii) the agency or Minister had decided the document 4
or documents sought to be amended were 5
documents amendment of which was refused under 6
section 72; or 7
(iv) the agency or Minister had refused to deal with it 8
under this part; or 9
(c) the agency's or Minister's decision on the first 10
application-- 11
(i) is the subject of a review and the review is not 12
complete; or 13
(ii) has been the subject of a completed review (other 14
than an internal review). 15
(4) For subsection (3)(c), review means-- 16
(a) an internal review; or 17
(b) an external review; or 18
(c) a proceeding under part 11. 19
(5) For subsection (3)(c), a review is complete if the review has 20
ended because of an informal resolution or because of a 21
decision of the entity conducting the review. 22
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 5 Decision
[s 64]
Part 5 Decision 1
Division 1 Access applications 2
64 Pro-disclosure bias in deciding access to documents 3
(1) It is the Parliament's intention that if an access application is 4
made to an agency or Minister for a document, the agency or 5
Minister should decide to give access to the document unless 6
giving access would, on balance, be contrary to the public 7
interest. 8
(2) The purpose of this part is to help the agency or Minister 9
decide whether giving access would, on balance, be contrary 10
to the public interest by-- 11
(a) setting out in the Right to Information Act, schedule 3, 12
as applied under this Act, types of information the 13
disclosure of which the Parliament has considered 14
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest; and 15
(b) setting out in the Right to Information Act, section 49, 16
as applied under this Act, the steps, and in schedule 4 of 17
that Act, as applied under this Act, factors, for deciding, 18
for other types of information, whether disclosure 19
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. 20
(3) Also, the Right to Information Act, sections 50 and 51, as 21
applied under this Act, set out circumstances concerning 22
information about a child and personal healthcare information 23
about an applicant in which the Parliament has stated its 24
intention about what is in the best interests of the child and 25
applicant. 26
(4) However, it is the Parliament's intention that this Act should 27
be administered with a pro-disclosure bias and an agency or 28
Minister may give access to a document in relation to an 29
applicant's personal information even if this Act provides that 30
access to the document may be refused. 31
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Part 5 Decision
[s 65]
65 Considered decision on access application 1
If a person makes an access application for a document to an 2
agency or Minister, the agency or Minister must-- 3
(a) after considering the application, make a decision (a 4
considered decision)-- 5
(i) whether access is to be given to the document; and 6
(ii) if access is to be given--whether any access charge 7
must be paid before access is given; and 8
(b) give the person written notice of the decision under 9
section 68. 10
66 Deemed decision on access application 11
(1) If an applicant is not given written notice of the decision by 12
the end of the processing period for an access application for a 13
document, on the last day of the processing period, the 14
principal officer of the agency or the Minister is taken to have 15
made a decision (a deemed decision) refusing access to the 16
document. 17
(2) As soon as practicable after a deemed decision is taken to 18
have been made, the principal officer or Minister must give 19
prescribed written notice of the decision to the applicant. 20
67 Grounds on which access may be refused 21
(1) An agency may refuse access to a document of the agency and 22
a Minister may refuse access to a document of the Minister in 23
the same way and to the same extent the agency or Minister 24
could refuse access to the document under the Right to 25
Information Act, section 47 were the document to be the 26
subject of an access application under that Act. 27
Note-- 28
See the Right to Information Act, section 47 (Grounds on which access 29
may be refused). Generally, the grounds for refusal relate to issues 30
concerning exempt information, the public interest, a child or 31
applicant's best interests, documents being nonexistent or unable to be 32
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[s 68]
located and other availability of access to documents. However, see also 1
section 4 (Act not intended to prevent other accessing or amendment of 2
personal information) of this Act. 3
(2) It is the Parliament's intention that-- 4
(a) the grounds on which access may be refused under the 5
Right to Information Act, as applied under this Act, are 6
to be interpreted narrowly; and 7
(b) an agency or Minister may give access to a document 8
even if a ground on which access may be refused 9
applies. 10
68 Notification of decision and reasons--access application 11
(1) An agency or Minister must give a prescribed written notice 12
to an applicant for an access application of-- 13
(a) the decision on the application, including a decision to 14
refuse to deal with the application; and 15
(b) if the application relates to a document that is not a 16
document in the possession, or under the control, of the 17
agency or Minister--the fact that the document is not a 18
document in the possession, or under the control, of the 19
agency or Minister. 20
(2) In addition to the details that must be stated in a prescribed 21
written notice, the notice must also specify the following-- 22
(a) if access to a document is to be given-- 23
(i) an itemisation of any access charges payable by the 24
person; and 25
(ii) the period within which the applicant may access 26
the document under section 84 (the access period); 27
(b) if access is to be given to a copy of a document subject 28
to the deletion under section 88 of irrelevant 29
information--the fact that the document is such a copy; 30
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
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[s 68]
(c) if access is to be given to a copy of a document subject 1
to the deletion under section 89 of exempt 2
information-- 3
(i) the fact that the document is such a copy; and 4
(ii) the provision of the Right to Information Act, 5
schedule 3 under which the information is exempt 6
information; and 7
(iii) the reasons for the decision classifying the 8
information as exempt information; 9
(d) if access is to be given to a copy of a document subject 10
to the deletion under section 90 of contrary to public 11
interest information-- 12
(i) the fact that the document is such a copy; and 13
(ii) the factors identified as favouring disclosure and 14
the factors identified as favouring nondisclosure 15
under the Right to Information Act, section 49, as 16
applied under this Act; and 17
(iii) the reasons why disclosure of the information 18
would, on balance, be contrary to the public 19
interest under the Right to Information Act, section 20
49, as applied under this Act; 21
(e) if access to a document is to be given subject to deferral 22
under section 87-- 23
(i) the reason for the deferral; and 24
(ii) the day on which the agency or Minister expects 25
the document to be presented or released as 26
mentioned in section 87; 27
(f) if dealing with the access application is refused under 28
section 59-- 29
(i) the provision of the Right to Information Act, 30
schedule 3 under which the information in the 31
document is exempt information; and 32
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[s 68]
(ii) the reasons for the decision classifying the 1
information as exempt information; 2
(g) if access to a document is refused under section 67-- 3
(i) the provision of the Right to Information Act, 4
section 47(3), as applied under this Act, under 5
which access is refused; and 6
(ii) if access is refused under the Right to Information 7
Act, section 47(3)(a), as applied under this Act-- 8
(A) the provision of the Right to Information 9
Act, schedule 3 under which the information 10
in the document is exempt information; and 11
(B) the reasons for the decision classifying the 12
information as exempt information; and 13
(iii) if access is refused under the Right to Information 14
Act, section 47(3)(b), as applied under this Act-- 15
(A) the factors identified as favouring disclosure 16
and the factors identified as favouring 17
nondisclosure under the Right to Information 18
Act, section 49; and 19
(B) the reasons for the decision that, on balance, 20
disclosure would be contrary to the public 21
interest; and 22
(iv) if access is refused under the Right to Information 23
Act, section 47(3)(c), as applied under this 24
Act--the reason under the Right to Information 25
Act, section 50 the agency or Minister considers 26
access would not be in the best interests of the 27
child; and 28
(v) if access is refused under the Right to Information 29
Act, section 47(3)(d), as applied under this 30
Act--the reason under the Right to Information 31
Act, section 51 the agency or Minister considers 32
that the disclosure to the applicant might be 33
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[s 69]
prejudicial to the physical or mental health or 1
wellbeing of the applicant; and 2
(vi) if access is refused under the Right to Information 3
Act, section 47(3)(e), as applied under this 4
Act--the provision of the Right to Information 5
Act, section 52(1) under which the document is 6
nonexistent or unlocatable; and 7
(vii) if access is refused under the Right to Information 8
Act, section 47(3)(f), as applied under this 9
Act--the type of access to the document under the 10
Right to Information Act, section 53 that is 11
available. 12
(3) An agency or Minister is not required to include any exempt 13
information or contrary to public interest information in the 14
notice. 15
(4) Subsection (2)(a)(ii) does not apply if the document is given 16
with the notice. 17
(5) This section does not apply in relation to a deemed decision. 18
69 Information as to existence of particular documents 19
(1) Nothing in this Act requires an agency or Minister to give 20
information as to the existence or non-existence of a 21
document containing prescribed information. 22
(2) For an access application for a document containing 23
prescribed information, the agency or Minister may give 24
prescribed written notice that does not include the details 25
mentioned in section 200(a) or (b) but, by way of a decision, 26
states that-- 27
(a) the agency or Minister neither confirms nor denies the 28
existence of that type of document as a document of the 29
agency or a document of the Minister; but 30
(b) assuming the existence of the document, it would be a 31
document to which access would be refused under 32
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 5 Decision
[s 70]
section 67 to the extent it comprised prescribed 1
information. 2
Division 2 Amendment applications 3
70 Considered decision on amendment application 4
If a person makes an amendment application for a document 5
to an agency or Minister, the agency or Minister must-- 6
(a) after considering the application, make a decision (a 7
considered decision) whether amendment of the 8
document is to be permitted; and 9
(b) give the person written notice of the decision under 10
section 73. 11
71 Deemed decision on amendment application 12
(1) If an applicant is not given written notice of the decision by 13
the end of the processing period for an amendment 14
application, on the last day of the processing period, the 15
principal officer of the agency or the Minister is taken to have 16
made a decision (a deemed decision) refusing to amend the 17
document. 18
(2) As soon as practicable after a deemed decision is taken to 19
have been made, the principal officer or Minister must give 20
prescribed written notice of the decision to the applicant. 21
72 Grounds on which amendment may be refused 22
(1) Without limiting the grounds on which the agency or Minister 23
may refuse to amend the document, the agency or Minister 24
may refuse to amend the document because-- 25
(a) the agency or Minister is not satisfied-- 26
(i) the personal information is inaccurate, incomplete, 27
out of date or misleading; or 28
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
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[s 73]
(ii) the information sought to be amended is personal 1
information of the applicant; or 2
(iii) if the application is purportedly made by an 3
agent--that the agent is suitably authorised to 4
make the amendment application; or 5
(b) the document does not form part of a functional record. 6
(2) In this section-- 7
functional record, of an agency or Minister, means a record 8
available for use in the day-to-day or ordinary performance of 9
the agency's or Minister's functions. 10
73 Notification of decision and reasons--amendment 11
application 12
(1) An agency or Minister is to give a prescribed written notice to 13
an applicant for an amendment application of the decision on 14
the application. 15
(2) If amendment of the document is to be permitted, the 16
prescribed written notice is not required to state the reasons 17
for the decision. 18
(3) An agency or Minister is not required to include any exempt 19
information, or contrary to public interest information, in the 20
notice. 21
(4) This section does not apply in relation to a deemed decision. 22
74 Amendment of document by alteration or notation 23
If an agency or Minister to whom an amendment application 24
is made decides to amend the document in relation to the 25
personal information contained in the document the subject of 26
the application, the agency or Minister may make the 27
amendment by-- 28
(a) altering the personal information; or 29
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 5 Decision
[s 75]
(b) adding an appropriate notation to the personal 1
information. 2
75 Notation to information 3
If an agency or Minister adds a notation to personal 4
information, the notation must-- 5
(a) state how the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out 6
of date or misleading; and 7
(b) if the information is claimed to be incomplete or out of 8
date--set out the information required to complete the 9
information or bring it up to date. 10
76 Particular notations required to be added 11
(1) This section applies if-- 12
(a) a person makes an amendment application to an agency 13
or Minister; and 14
(b) under section 70, the agency or Minister refuses to 15
amend the document. 16
(2) The applicant may, whether or not the applicant has applied 17
under part 8 or 9 for review of the decision, by written notice, 18
require the agency or Minister to add to the personal 19
information included in the document a notation-- 20
(a) stating the way the applicant claims the information to 21
be inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading; 22
and 23
(b) if the applicant claims the information to be inaccurate 24
or misleading--setting out the amendments the 25
applicant claims are necessary for the information to be 26
accurate or not misleading; and 27
(c) if the applicant claims the information to be incomplete 28
or out of date--setting out the information the applicant 29
claims is necessary to complete the information or to 30
bring it up to date. 31
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[s 76]
(3) The agency or Minister must-- 1
(a) comply with the requirements of a notice under this 2
section; and 3
(b) give the applicant written notice of the nature of the 4
notation. 5
(4) Subsection (3)(a) does not require the agency or Minister to 6
make a notation using the same words as the words provided 7
by the applicant. 8
(5) If the agency or Minister decides the information to which the 9
notice relates is not information in relation to which the 10
applicant was entitled to apply to the agency or Minister for 11
amendment of the document-- 12
(a) subsection (3) does not apply; and 13
(b) the agency or Minister must give prescribed written 14
notice to the applicant of the decision. 15
(6) If an agency or Minister (the document holder) discloses to a 16
person (including an agency or Minister) any information 17
contained in the part of the document the subject of the 18
amendment application, the document holder-- 19
(a) must ensure the person is given, when the information is 20
disclosed, a statement-- 21
(i) stating that the person, or eligible family member 22
of the person, to whom the information relates 23
claims that the information is inaccurate, 24
incomplete, out of date or misleading; and 25
(ii) setting out particulars of the notation added under 26
this section; and 27
(b) may include in the statement the reason for the agency's 28
refusal to amend the document. 29
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 6 Charging regime
[s 77]
Part 6 Charging regime 1
Division 1 Preliminary 2
77 Meaning of access charge 3
In this Act, an access charge, in relation to an access 4
application for a document, means the charge prescribed 5
under a regulation in relation to the giving of access to the 6
document. 7
78 Duty in relation to access charge 8
It is the duty of the agency or Minister to minimise any access 9
charge payable by an applicant. 10
Division 2 Payment of charges 11
79 Requirement to pay access charge 12
Before an applicant for an access application for a document 13
is given access to the document, the applicant must pay the 14
applicable access charge for the application. 15
Note-- 16
The access charge is prescribed under a regulation--see section 77. 17
Division 3 Waiver of charges 18
80 Waiver under div 3 only 19
An access charge may be waived only under this division. 20
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Part 6 Charging regime
[s 81]
81 Uneconomical to charge 1
(1) An access charge for an access application may be waived if 2
the agency or Minister considers the likely associated costs to 3
the agency or Minister would be more than the likely amount 4
of the charge. 5
(2) In this section-- 6
associated costs mean the costs of-- 7
(a) complying with this Act in relation to the charge; and 8
(b) receiving payment of the charge. 9
82 Applicant under financial hardship 10
(1) This section applies if, at any time, an applicant for an access 11
application makes a written request to an agency or Minister 12
that the applicable access charge for the application be 13
waived. 14
(2) The agency or Minister must decide to waive any access 15
charge for the application if-- 16
(a) the request is accompanied by a copy of a concession 17
card; and 18
(b) the agency or Minister considers the applicant is the 19
holder of a concession card; and 20
(c) the agency or Minister considers the applicant is not 21
making the application for some other person who is 22
seeking to avoid the payment of a charge. 23
(3) The agency or Minister must give the applicant a prescribed 24
written notice of a decision under subsection (2) before the 25
end of the processing period. 26
(4) In this section-- 27
concession card means a health care card or pensioner 28
concession card under the Social Security Act 1991 (Cwlth) or 29
a pensioner concession card issued by the department of the 30
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Part 7 Giving access
[s 83]
Commonwealth in which the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 1
(Cwlth) is administered. 2
holder, of a concession card, at a time the concession card is 3
being relied on for a purpose under this Act, means a person 4
who is named on the concession card and would be qualified 5
to be named on the concession card if the concession card 6
were issued at the time the concession card is being relied on. 7
Part 7 Giving access 8
83 Forms of access 9
(1) Access to a document may be given to a person in 1 or more 10
of the following forms-- 11
(a) a reasonable opportunity to inspect the document; 12
(b) providing a copy of the document; 13
(c) if the document is an article or material from which 14
sounds or visual images are capable of being 15
reproduced--making arrangements for the person to 16
hear the sounds or view the images; 17
(d) if the document is one-- 18
(i) by which words are recorded in a way in which 19
they are capable of being reproduced in the form of 20
sound; or 21
(ii) in which words are contained in the form of 22
shorthand writing or in codified form; 23
providing a written transcript of the words recorded or 24
contained in the document; 25
(e) if-- 26
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Part 7 Giving access
[s 83]
(i) the application relates to information that is not 1
contained in a written document in the possession, 2
or under the control, of the agency; and 3
(ii) the agency could create a written document 4
containing the information using equipment that is 5
usually available to it for retrieving or collating 6
stored information; 7
providing a written document created using the 8
equipment. 9
(2) For subsection (1)(a) and (b), the reference to the document 10
includes a reference to a copy of the document from which 11
information has been deleted under sections 88 to 90. 12
(3) Subject to this section and sections 88 to 92, if an applicant 13
has requested access in a particular form, access must be 14
given in that form. 15
(4) If giving access in the form requested by the applicant-- 16
(a) would interfere unreasonably with the operations of the 17
agency, or the performance by the Minister of the 18
Minister's functions; or 19
(b) would be detrimental to the preservation of the 20
document or, having regard to the physical nature of the 21
document, would be inappropriate; or 22
(c) would involve an infringement of the copyright of a 23
person other than the State; 24
access in that form may be refused and given in another form. 25
(5) If an applicant is given access to a document in a form 26
different to the form of access requested by the applicant, the 27
applicant must not be required to pay an access charge that is 28
more than the charge that would have been payable if access 29
had been given in the form requested by the applicant. 30
(6) Access under subsection (1)(a) to a document to which 31
section 190 or 191 applies must be given by affording the 32
applicant a reasonable opportunity to inspect the document on 33
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Part 7 Giving access
[s 84]
the premises of the Queensland State Archives or public 1
library or in an office of an agency. 2
(7) If a document is more than 25 years old or in the custody of 3
the Queensland State Archives, the State Archivist may direct 4
that access not be given in 1 or more, but not all, of the forms 5
mentioned in subsection (1) if, in the State Archivist's 6
opinion, giving access in that form would be detrimental to 7
the document's preservation or, having regard to the physical 8
nature of the document, would be inappropriate. 9
(8) This section does not prevent an agency or Minister giving 10
access to a document in another form agreed to by the 11
applicant. 12
84 Time limit for access 13
(1) This section applies if an applicant for an access application 14
for a document is given access to the document. 15
(2) The person may access the document-- 16
(a) if the giving of access is deferred under section 56(3)(d) 17
or 87, within-- 18
(i) 40 business days after the date of the notice that 19
access is no longer deferred; and 20
(ii) any additional period allowed by the agency or 21
Minister; or 22
(b) otherwise, within-- 23
(i) 40 business days after the date of the decision to 24
give the person access to the document; and 25
(ii) any additional period allowed by the agency or 26
Minister. 27
(3) For subsection (2)(b)(i), the date of the decision to give the 28
person access to the document is-- 29
(a) if the person is given access because of a decision of the 30
agency or Minister--the date of the prescribed written 31
notice; or 32
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Part 7 Giving access
[s 85]
(b) if the person is given access because of a decision of the 1
information commissioner, QCAT or a court--the date 2
of the decision; or 3
(c) if the person is given access because of an informal 4
resolution of an external review--the date of the notice 5
of the information commissioner given under section 6
103(4)(a); or 7
(d) if the person is given access because of an informal 8
resolution of a proceeding under part 11--the date of 9
the informal resolution. 10
(4) If the person does not seek to access the document within the 11
40 business days, or any additional period allowed by the 12
agency or Minister, the person's entitlement to access under 13
the application ends. 14
(5) To remove any doubt, it is declared that subsection (2) does 15
not entitle a person to access a document without paying any 16
access charge payable under part 6. 17
85 Precautions 18
(1) This section applies if-- 19
(a) an access application is made to an agency or Minister 20
for a document containing personal information for a 21
person (the first person); and 22
(b) disclosure of the information would, on balance, be 23
contrary to the public interest having regard to the Right 24
to Information Act, section 49, or the information would 25
be exempt information, if the application were made by 26
a person other than the first person or the first person's 27
agent. 28
(2) The agency or Minister must ensure, by the adoption of 29
appropriate procedures, that any information intended for the 30
applicant is received-- 31
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Part 7 Giving access
[s 86]
(a) if the application is made by the applicant's agent--only 1
by the applicant or the agent; or 2
(b) in any other case--only by the applicant. 3
86 Precautions for children 4
(1) This section applies if-- 5
(a) an access application states that it is made for a child by 6
a parent; and 7
(b) the application is for documents containing the child's 8
personal information. 9
(2) The agency or Minister must ensure, by the adoption of 10
appropriate procedures, that any information intended for the 11
child is received only by the parent. 12
(3) In this section-- 13
child see section 45. 14
parent see section 45. 15
87 Deferral of access 16
(1) An agency or Minister may defer giving access to a document 17
for a reasonable period if the document was prepared-- 18
(a) for presentation to the Assembly or a committee of the 19
Assembly; or 20
(b) for release to the media; or 21
(c) solely for inclusion, in the same or an amended form, in 22
a document to be prepared for a purpose mentioned in 23
paragraph (a) or (b); 24
and the document is yet to be presented or released, or 25
included in a document to be presented or released, as the case 26
may be. 27
(2) The agency or Minister must give the applicant written notice 28
when access is no longer deferred under subsection (1). 29
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 7 Giving access
[s 88]
88 Deletion of irrelevant information 1
(1) This section applies if giving access to a document will 2
disclose to the applicant information the agency or Minister 3
reasonably considers is not relevant to the access application 4
for the document. 5
(2) The agency or Minister may delete the irrelevant information 6
from a copy of the document and give access to the document 7
by giving access to a copy of the document with the irrelevant 8
information deleted. 9
(3) However, the agency or Minister may give access to the 10
document under subsection (2) only if the agency or Minister 11
considers, from the terms of the application or after 12
consultation with the applicant-- 13
(a) the applicant would accept the copy; and 14
(b) it is reasonably practicable to give access to the copy. 15
89 Deletion of exempt information 16
Subject to section 69, if-- 17
(a) an access application is made for a document containing 18
exempt information; and 19
(b) it is practicable to give access to a copy of the document 20
from which the exempt information has been deleted; 21
and 22
(c) it appears to the agency or Minister concerned (whether 23
from the terms of the application or after consultation 24
with the applicant) that the applicant would wish to be 25
given access to the copy; 26
the agency or Minister must give access accordingly. 27
90 Deletion of contrary to public interest information 28
Subject to section 69, if-- 29
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 7 Giving access
[s 91]
(a) an application is made for access to a document 1
containing contrary to public interest information; and 2
(b) it is practicable to give access to a copy of the document 3
from which the contrary to public interest information 4
has been deleted; and 5
(c) it appears to the agency or Minister concerned (whether 6
from the terms of the application or after consultation 7
with the applicant) that the applicant would wish to be 8
given access to such a copy; 9
the agency or Minister must give access accordingly. 10
91 Giving summary of personal information to applicant or 11
intermediary 12
(1) This section applies if under this Act, other than under the 13
Right to Information Act, section 47(3)(d), as applied under 14
this Act, an agency or a Minister refuses an applicant under an 15
access application access to a document. 16
(2) Despite the refusal mentioned in subsection (1), the agency or 17
Minister must consider whether it is consistent with the 18
primary object of this Act to give the applicant, or a person 19
nominated by the applicant and approved by the agency or 20
Minister (an intermediary), a summary of the applicant's 21
personal information on conditions of use or disclosure agreed 22
between the agency or Minister and the intermediary, or 23
between the agency or Minister, the intermediary and the 24
applicant. 25
(3) However-- 26
(a) if a summary of information under subsection (2) 27
includes information given by a person (the information 28
giver), other than the applicant, who gave the 29
information on a confidential basis--the summary must 30
not be given to the applicant or intermediary without 31
consultation with, and the agreement of, the information 32
giver; and 33
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 7 Giving access
[s 92]
(b) if a summary of information under subsection (2) 1
includes personal information of a person other than the 2
applicant--the summary must not be given to the 3
applicant or intermediary without consultation with, and 4
the agreement of, the other person. 5
(4) Subsection (3) applies whether or not the summary is capable 6
of revealing the identity of the information giver or other 7
person. 8
92 Giving relevant healthcare information to applicant's 9
nominated healthcare professional 10
(1) This section applies if an agency or Minister refuses access to 11
a document under the Right to Information Act, section 12
47(3)(d), as applied under this Act. 13
(2) Despite the refusal, the agency or Minister may direct that 14
access to the document is to be given instead to an 15
appropriately qualified healthcare professional nominated by 16
the applicant and approved by the agency or Minister. 17
Note-- 18
Only a principal officer, Minister or appointed healthcare professional 19
may give this direction or approve the applicant's nominated healthcare 20
professional--see sections 50(5) and 51(2). 21
(3) The nominated and approved healthcare professional may 22
decide-- 23
(a) whether or not to disclose all or part of the relevant 24
healthcare information contained in the document to the 25
applicant; and 26
(b) the way in which to disclose the information to the 27
applicant. 28
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 8 Internal review
[s 93]
Part 8 Internal review 1
93 Definitions for pt 8 2
In this part-- 3
internal review means review under this part. 4
internal review application means an application for internal 5
review. 6
94 Internal review 7
(1) A person affected by a reviewable decision may apply to have 8
the decision reviewed by the agency or Minister dealing with 9
the application. 10
Notes-- 11
1 Reviewable decision is defined in schedule 5. 12
2 It is not necessary to have an internal review before applying for an 13
external review under part 9. 14
(2) On an internal review of a decision, the reviewer must make a 15
new decision as if the reviewable decision had not been made. 16
(3) An internal review application must not be decided by-- 17
(a) the person who made the reviewable decision; or 18
(b) a person who is less senior than that person. 19
95 Decisions that may not be reviewed 20
To remove any doubt, it is declared that the following 21
decisions in relation to an access application are not 22
reviewable decisions for internal review-- 23
(a) a decision on an internal review application; 24
(b) a decision by an agency's principal officer; 25
(c) a decision by a Minister; 26
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Part 8 Internal review
[s 96]
(d) a decision by a healthcare professional appointed under 1
section 50 or 51. 2
96 Applying for internal review 3
An application for internal review of a decision must-- 4
(a) be in writing; and 5
(b) state an address to which notices under this Act may be 6
sent to the applicant for internal review; and 7
(c) be made within 20 business days after the date of the 8
written notice of the decision or within the further time 9
the agency or the Minister allows (whether before or 10
after the end of the 20 business days); and 11
(d) be lodged at an office of the agency or Minister. 12
Note-- 13
Section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for others. 14
97 When internal review application to be decided 15
(1) An agency or Minister must decide an internal review 16
application as soon as practicable. 17
(2) However, if an agency or Minister does not decide an internal 18
review application and notify the applicant of the decision 19
within 20 business days after the internal review application is 20
made, the agency's principal officer or the Minister is taken to 21
have made a decision at the end of the 20 business days 22
affirming the original decision. 23
(3) As soon as practicable after a decision is made or taken to 24
have been made under this section, the principal officer or 25
Minister must give prescribed written notice of the decision to 26
the applicant. 27
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 98]
Part 9 External review 1
Division 1 Preliminary 2
98 Definitions for pt 9 3
In this part-- 4
external review means review by the information 5
commissioner under this part. 6
external review application means an application for external 7
review. 8
99 External review 9
A person affected by a reviewable decision may apply to have 10
the decision reviewed by the information commissioner. 11
Notes-- 12
1 Reviewable decision is defined in schedule 5. 13
2 It is not necessary to have an internal review under part 8 before 14
applying for an external review. 15
100 Onus 16
(1) On an external review, the agency or Minister who made the 17
decision under review has the onus of establishing that the 18
decision was justified or that the information commissioner 19
should give a decision adverse to the applicant. 20
(2) However, if the decision under external review is a disclosure 21
decision, the participant in the external review application 22
who opposes the disclosure decision has the onus of 23
establishing that a decision not to disclose the document or 24
information is justified or that the commissioner should give a 25
decision adverse to the person who wishes to be given access 26
to the document. 27
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 101]
(3) In this section-- 1
disclosure decision means-- 2
(a) a decision to disclose a document or information 3
contrary to the views of a relevant third party obtained 4
under section 56; or 5
(b) a decision to disclose a document or information if the 6
agency or Minister should have taken, but has not taken, 7
steps to obtain the views of a relevant third party under 8
section 56. 9
Division 2 Application 10
101 Applying for external review 11
(1) An application for external review must-- 12
(a) be in writing; and 13
(b) specify an address of the applicant to which notices may 14
be sent under this Act; and 15
(c) give details of the decision for review; and 16
(d) be made within 20 business days from the date of the 17
written notice of the decision, or within the longer 18
period the information commissioner allows; and 19
(e) be lodged at an office of the OIC. 20
Note-- 21
Section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for others. 22
(2) The application may contain details of the basis on which the 23
applicant disputes the decision under review. 24
102 Participants in external review 25
(1) The applicant for external review and the agency or Minister 26
concerned are participants in an external review. 27
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 103]
(2) Any other person affected by the decision the subject of the 1
external review (including a government agency or persons 2
whose views were required to be sought under section 56 3
before the decision was made), may apply to the information 4
commissioner to participate in the external review. 5
(3) The commissioner may allow a person mentioned in 6
subsection (2) to participate in the external review in the way 7
the commissioner directs. 8
Division 3 After application made 9
103 Early resolution encouraged 10
(1) If an external review application is made to the information 11
commissioner, the commissioner must-- 12
(a) identify opportunities and processes for early resolution 13
of the external review application, including mediation; 14
and 15
(b) promote settlement of the external review application. 16
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the commissioner decides not 17
to deal with, or to further deal with, the external review 18
application under section 107. 19
(3) The commissioner may suspend an external review at any 20
time to allow the participants in the external review to 21
negotiate a settlement. 22
(4) If an external review is resolved informally-- 23
(a) the commissioner must give each participant in the 24
external review notice that the external review is 25
complete; and 26
(b) the external review is taken to be complete at the date of 27
the notice mentioned in paragraph (a). 28
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 104]
104 Agency or Minister to be informed of application for 1
external review of deemed decision 2
If an application is made for external review of a deemed 3
decision of an agency's principal officer or a Minister under 4
section 66 or 71, the information commissioner must inform 5
the agency or Minister of the application as soon as 6
practicable after it is made. 7
105 Agency or Minister to be informed before external review 8
of decision 9
Before starting an external review of a decision, the 10
information commissioner must inform the agency or 11
Minister concerned that the decision is to be reviewed under 12
this part. 13
106 Applications where decision delayed 14
(1) This section applies if-- 15
(a) an application is made to the information commissioner 16
for external review of a deemed decision in relation to 17
an access or amendment application; and 18
(b) the agency or Minister applies to the commissioner to 19
allow the agency or Minister further time to deal with 20
the access or amendment application. 21
(2) The commissioner may allow the agency or Minister further 22
time to deal with the access or amendment application subject 23
to the conditions the commissioner considers appropriate, 24
including a condition that the applicable access charge must 25
be reduced or waived. 26
(3) If the agency or Minister does not deal with the access or 27
amendment application and give the applicant for external 28
review prescribed written notice of a considered decision 29
within the further time, the agency's principal officer or the 30
Minister is taken, for the purpose of enabling a fresh external 31
review application to be made, to have made, on the last day 32
of the further time, a decision affirming the deemed decision. 33
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 107]
107 Information commissioner may decide not to review 1
(1) The information commissioner may decide not to deal with, 2
or not to further deal with, all or part of an external review 3
application if-- 4
(a) the commissioner is satisfied the application, or the part 5
of the application, is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived 6
or lacking substance; or 7
(b) the applicant for external review fails to comply with a 8
direction given by the commissioner; or 9
(c) the commissioner considers the applicant for external 10
review has failed to cooperate in progressing the 11
external review application, or the part of it, without 12
reasonable excuse; or 13
(d) the commissioner considers the address the applicant for 14
external review stated in the application is no longer an 15
address at which the applicant is contactable and the 16
applicant has not, within a reasonable time, advised the 17
commissioner of a new address of the applicant to which 18
notices may be sent under this Act. 19
(2) If the commissioner decides not to deal with, or not to further 20
deal with, all or part of an external review application, the 21
commissioner must, as soon as practicable, inform each of the 22
following persons in writing of the decision and of the reasons 23
for the decision-- 24
(a) the applicant for external review, unless subsection 25
(1)(d) applies; 26
(b) any other person informed by the commissioner of the 27
proposed external review. 28
Division 4 Conduct of external review 29
108 Procedure on external review 30
(1) On an external review-- 31
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 109]
(a) the procedure to be followed is, subject to this Act, 1
within the discretion of the information commissioner; 2
and 3
(b) proceedings must be conducted with as little formality 4
and technicality, and with as much expedition, as the 5
requirements of this Act and a proper consideration of 6
the matters before the commissioner allow; and 7
(c) the commissioner is not bound by the rules of evidence 8
and may inform himself or herself on any matter in any 9
way the commissioner considers appropriate. 10
(2) The commissioner may, during an external review, give 11
directions as to the procedure to be followed on the external 12
review. 13
109 Requirement to assist during review 14
(1) During an external review, any participant must comply in a 15
timely way with a reasonable request made by the information 16
commissioner for assistance in relation to the review. 17
Examples-- 18
1 The information commissioner may request that a participant give 19
further and better particulars of a matter. 20
2 The information commissioner may request that an agency or 21
Minister specifically indicate in a written document the words the 22
agency or Minister considers are exempt information. 23
(2) Subsection (1) applies even if the participant who is asked for 24
assistance does not have the onus under section 100. 25
110 Conduct of reviews 26
(1) If, during an external review, the commissioner proposes to-- 27
(a) allow a participant to make oral submissions; or 28
(b) take evidence on oath or affirmation; 29
that part of the external review must be conducted in public 30
unless the commissioner decides otherwise. 31
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 111]
(2) In conducting an external review, the information 1
commissioner must-- 2
(a) adopt procedures that are fair, having regard to the 3
obligations of the commissioner under this Act; and 4
(b) ensure that each participant has an opportunity to 5
present the participant's views to the commissioner by 6
making written or oral submissions; 7
but, subject to paragraph (a), it is not necessary for a 8
participant to be given an opportunity to appear before the 9
commissioner. 10
(3) If the commissioner gives a participant an opportunity to 11
appear before the commissioner, the participant may, with the 12
approval of the commissioner, be represented by another 13
person. 14
(4) If-- 15
(a) the commissioner has decided not to notify a person of 16
the review; and 17
(b) it later becomes apparent to the commissioner that 18
documents in which the person has an interest are likely 19
to be released; 20
the commissioner must take reasonable steps to notify the 21
person of the likely release if the release may reasonably be 22
expected to be of concern to the person. 23
Division 4A Powers of information 24
commissioner on external review 25
111 Preliminary inquiries 26
If an external review application is made, the information 27
commissioner may, for the purpose of deciding-- 28
(a) whether the commissioner has power to review the 29
matter to which the application relates; or 30
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 112]
(b) whether the commissioner may decide not to review the 1
matter; 2
make inquiries of the applicant for external review or the 3
agency or Minister concerned. 4
112 Better reasons 5
(1) This section applies if-- 6
(a) an application is made for external review of a decision 7
of an agency or a Minister; and 8
(b) the information commissioner considers that the reasons 9
for the decision stated in the prescribed notice for the 10
decision are not adequate. 11
(2) The commissioner may require the agency or Minister to give 12
the applicant for external review and the commissioner an 13
additional statement, as soon as practicable, but in any case 14
within 20 business days, containing further and better 15
particulars of the reasons for the decision. 16
113 Access to documents 17
If an external review application is made, the information 18
commissioner is entitled to full and free access at all 19
reasonable times to the documents of the agency or Minister 20
concerned, including documents protected by legal 21
professional privilege. 22
114 Access in particular form 23
(1) This section-- 24
(a) applies if an external review application is made in 25
relation to an access application; but 26
(b) does not apply to an external review of a decision 27
refusing to give access in the form mentioned in section 28
83(1)(e). 29
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 115]
(2) If a document relevant to an external review is a document-- 1
(a) by which words are recorded in a way in which they are 2
capable of being reproduced in the form of sound; or 3
(ii) in which words are contained in the form of shorthand 4
writing or in codified form; 5
the information commissioner may require the agency or 6
Minister concerned to give the commissioner a written 7
transcript of the words recorded or contained in the document. 8
(3) If-- 9
(a) the access application relevant to the external review 10
relates to information that is not contained in a written 11
document in the possession, or under the control, of the 12
agency or Minister concerned; and 13
(b) the agency or Minister could create a written document 14
containing the information using equipment that is 15
usually available to it for retrieving or collating stored 16
information; 17
the commissioner may require the agency or Minister to give 18
the commissioner a written document created using the 19
equipment. 20
115 Requiring a search 21
(1) In the conduct of an external review of a decision to refuse 22
access to a document, the information commissioner may 23
require the agency or Minister concerned to conduct a 24
particular further search, or further searches, for a document. 25
(2) In this section-- 26
conduct further searches, for a document, includes make 27
inquiries to locate the document. 28
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 116]
116 Requiring information, documents and attendance 1
(1) If the information commissioner has reason to believe that a 2
person has information or a document relevant to an external 3
review, the commissioner may give to the person a written 4
notice requiring the person-- 5
(a) to give the information to the commissioner in writing 6
signed by the person or, in the case of a corporation, by 7
an officer of the corporation; or 8
(b) to produce the document to the commissioner. 9
(2) The notice must state-- 10
(a) the place at which the information or document must be 11
given or produced to the commissioner; and 12
(b) a reasonable time at which, or a reasonable period 13
within which, the information or document must be 14
given or produced. 15
(3) If the commissioner has reason to believe that a person has 16
information relevant to an external review, the commissioner 17
may give to the person a written notice requiring the person to 18
attend before the commissioner at a reasonable time and place 19
specified in the notice to answer questions relevant to the 20
external review. 21
Note-- 22
A person must not fail to comply with the notice--see section 187. 23
117 Examining witnesses 24
(1) The information commissioner may administer an oath or 25
affirmation to a person required under section 116 to attend 26
before the commissioner and may examine the person on oath 27
or affirmation. 28
(2) The oath or affirmation to be taken or made by a person for 29
the purposes of this section is an oath or affirmation that the 30
answers the person will give will be true. 31
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 118]
Note-- 1
A person must not give false or misleading information--see section 2
186. 3
118 Additional powers 4
(1) In the conduct of an external review, the information 5
commissioner has, in addition to any other power, power to-- 6
(a) review any decision that has been made by an agency or 7
Minister in relation to the access or amendment 8
application concerned; and 9
(b) decide any matter in relation to the access or amendment 10
application that could, under this Act, have been decided 11
by an agency or Minister. 12
(2) If it is established that a document is an exempt document or a 13
contrary to public interest document, or contains exempt 14
information or contrary to public interest information, the 15
commissioner does not have power to direct that access to the 16
document, or the document to the extent of the information, is 17
to be given. 18
(3) Any decision of the information commissioner under this 19
section has the same effect as a decision of the agency or 20
Minister. 21
119 Restrictions under other laws not applicable 22
(1) No obligation to maintain secrecy or other restriction on the 23
disclosure of information obtained by or given to agencies or 24
Ministers, whether imposed under an Act or a rule of law, 25
applies to the disclosure of information to the information 26
commissioner for the purposes of an external review. 27
(2) Legal professional privilege does not apply to the production 28
of documents or the giving of evidence by a member of an 29
agency or a Minister for the purposes of an external review. 30
(3) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), every participant in an 31
external review has the same privileges in relation to the 32
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 120]
giving of evidence and producing documents and things that 1
the person would have as a witness in a proceeding before a 2
court. 3
120 Information commissioner to ensure proper disclosure 4
and return of documents 5
On an external review, the information commissioner must do 6
all things necessary to ensure-- 7
(a) information or a document given to the commissioner is 8
not disclosed to a person other than-- 9
(i) a member of the staff of the OIC in the course of 10
performing duties as a member of the staff; or 11
(ii) a person who created the document or who gave 12
the document or information in the document to 13
the agency or Minister; or 14
(iii) if a person mentioned in subparagraph (ii) is a 15
participant in the review--the participant's 16
representative; and 17
(b) at the end of the review, any document given to the 18
commissioner is returned to the person who gave it. 19
121 Information commissioner to ensure nondisclosure of 20
particular information 21
(1) On an external review relating to an access application, the 22
information commissioner may give the directions the 23
commissioner considers necessary to avoid the disclosure to 24
an access participant or an access participant's representative 25
of-- 26
(a) information that is claimed to be exempt information or 27
contrary to the public interest information; or 28
(b) information the commissioner considers may be 29
protected by legal professional privilege. 30
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 122]
(2) The commissioner may receive evidence, or hear argument, in 1
the absence of an access participant or an access participant's 2
representative if it is necessary to do so to prevent disclosure 3
to that person of information that is claimed to be exempt 4
information or contrary to the public interest information. 5
(3) The commissioner must not, in a decision on an external 6
review or in reasons for a decision on an external review, 7
include information that is claimed to be exempt information 8
or contrary to the public interest information. 9
(4) In this section-- 10
access participant means a participant other than-- 11
(a) the agency or Minister who made the decision under 12
review; or 13
(b) a participant who created the document concerned or 14
who gave the document concerned to the agency or 15
Minister who made the decision under review. 16
122 Exception for successful challenge of s 69(2) notice 17
(1) This section applies if an agency or Minister gives a notice 18
under section 69(2) and the information commissioner is 19
satisfied that the document concerned does not include 20
prescribed information. 21
(2) Section 121(3) does not apply. 22
(3) Section 123 applies except that the commissioner must-- 23
(a) first give a copy of the decision only to the agency or 24
Minister; and 25
(b) give a copy of the decision to each other participant only 26
if, at the end of 20 business days after the date of the 27
decision, the commissioner has not been notified that 28
the agency or Minister has-- 29
(i) applied for a statutory order of review under the 30
Judicial Review Act 1991 in relation to the 31
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 123]
commissioner's decision (applied for judicial 1
review); or 2
(ii) appealed to QCAT against the commissioner's 3
decision under section 132 (appealed on a 4
question of law). 5
(4) Further, if the commissioner directs that access to the 6
document is to be given, the agency or Minister must comply 7
with the direction only if, at the end of 20 business days after 8
the date of the decision, the agency or Minister has not 9
applied for judicial review or appealed on a question of law. 10
Division 5 Decision on external review 11
123 Decision on external review 12
(1) The information commissioner, after conducting an external 13
review of a decision, must make a written decision-- 14
(a) affirming the decision; or 15
(b) varying the decision; or 16
(c) setting aside the decision and making a decision in 17
substitution for the decision. 18
(2) To remove doubt, it is declared that subsection (1) does not 19
apply if the external review is resolved informally. 20
(3) The commissioner must include in the decision the reasons for 21
the decision. 22
(4) The commissioner must give a copy of the decision to each 23
participant. 24
(5) If-- 25
(a) a document is to be released because of the external 26
review; and 27
(b) the commissioner has notified a person under section 28
110(4) and the person did not become a participant in 29
the review; 30
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Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 124]
the commissioner must take reasonable steps to notify the 1
person of the release. 2
(6) The commissioner must arrange to have decisions and reasons 3
for decisions published. 4
(7) However, subsection (6) does not require the commissioner to 5
arrange to have a decision and reasons for a decision 6
published to the extent they contain, or publication would 7
disclose, exempt information or contrary to public interest 8
information. 9
124 Correction of mistakes in decisions 10
(1) This section applies if the information commissioner 11
considers-- 12
(a) there is an obvious error in a written decision of the 13
commissioner; and 14
(b) the error resulted from an accidental slip or omission. 15
(2) The commissioner may, on application by a participant, or on 16
the commissioner's own initiative, at any time correct the 17
error. 18
Division 6 Miscellaneous 19
125 Costs of external review 20
The costs incurred by a participant to an external review are 21
payable by the participant. 22
126 Disciplinary action 23
(1) If the information commissioner, at the completion of an 24
external review, is of the opinion that-- 25
(a) there is evidence that an agency's officer has committed 26
a breach of duty or misconduct in the administration of 27
this Act; and 28
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 9 External review
[s 126]
(b) the evidence is, in all the circumstances, of sufficient 1
force to justify doing so; 2
the commissioner must bring the evidence to the notice of-- 3
(c) if the person is the principal officer of an agency--the 4
responsible Minister of the agency; or 5
(d) in any other case--the principal officer of the agency. 6
(2) Also, if the commissioner, at the completion of an external 7
review, is of the opinion that-- 8
(a) there is evidence that a person subject to the direction of 9
a Minister under section 51 has committed a breach of 10
duty or misconduct in the administration of this Act; and 11
(b) the evidence is, in all the circumstances, of sufficient 12
force to justify doing so; 13
the commissioner must bring the evidence to the notice of the 14
Minister. 15
(3) In this section-- 16
responsible Minister means-- 17
(a) in relation to a department--the Minister administering 18
the department; or 19
(b) in relation to the town commission constituted under the 20
Alcan Queensland Pty. Limited Agreement Act 21
1965--the Minister administering that Act; or 22
(c) in relation to a council constituted under the Local 23
Government (Aboriginal Lands) Act 1978--the Minister 24
administering that Act; or 25
(d) in relation to another local government--the Minister 26
administering the Local Government Act 1993; or 27
(e) in relation to a government owned corporation or a 28
subsidiary of a government owned corporation--the 29
Minister administering the Government Owned 30
Corporations Act 1993; or 31
Page 91
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 10 Vexatious applicants
[s 127]
(f) in relation to a public authority mentioned in section 1
21(1)(a) or (c)(ii)--the Minister administering the Act 2
by or under which the public authority is established; or 3
(g) in relation to a public authority mentioned in section 4
21(1)(d)--the Minister administering the Act by which 5
the office is established; or 6
(h) in relation to any other public authority--the Minister 7
declared by regulation to be the responsible Minister in 8
relation to the public authority. 9
Part 10 Vexatious applicants 10
127 Vexatious applicants 11
(1) The information commissioner may, on the commissioner's 12
own initiative or on the application of 1 or more agencies, 13
declare in writing that a person is a vexatious applicant. 14
(2) The commissioner may make the declaration in relation to a 15
person only if the commissioner is satisfied that-- 16
(a) the person has repeatedly engaged in access or 17
amendment actions; and 18
(b) 1 of the following applies-- 19
(i) the repeated engagement involves an abuse of 20
process for an access or amendment action; 21
(ii) a particular access or amendment action in which 22
the person engages involves, or would involve, an 23
abuse of process for that access or amendment 24
action; 25
(iii) a particular access or amendment action in which 26
the person engages would be manifestly 27
unreasonable. 28
Page 92
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 10 Vexatious applicants
[s 127]
(3) The information commission must not make the declaration in 1
relation to a person without giving the person an opportunity 2
to make written or oral submissions. 3
(4) A declaration has effect subject to the terms and conditions, if 4
any, stated in the declaration. 5
(5) Without limiting the conditions that may be stated, a 6
declaration may include a condition that the vexatious 7
applicant may make an access or amendment application, an 8
internal review application or an external review application 9
only with the written permission of the commissioner. 10
(6) In this section-- 11
abuse of process, for an access or amendment action, 12
includes, but is not limited to, the following-- 13
(a) harassing or intimidating an individual or an employee 14
of an agency in relation to the access action; 15
(b) unreasonably interfering with the operations of an 16
agency in relation to the access actions; 17
(c) seeking to use the Act for the purpose of circumventing 18
restrictions on access to or amendment of a document or 19
documents imposed by a court. 20
access or amendment action means any of the following-- 21
(a) an access application; 22
(b) an amendment application; 23
(c) an internal review application; 24
(d) an external review application. 25
agency includes a Minister. 26
engage, for an access or amendment action, means make the 27
access or amendment action. 28
Page 93
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 11 References of questions of law and appeals
[s 128]
128 Declaration may be varied or revoked 1
(1) The information commissioner may vary or revoke a 2
declaration made under section 127. 3
(2) The commissioner may vary or revoke the declaration on the 4
commissioner's own initiative or on the application of the 5
person subject to the declaration. 6
Part 11 References of questions of law 7
and appeals 8
129 Definitions for pt 11 9
In this part-- 10
appeal tribunal means the appeal tribunal under the QCAT 11
Act. 12
judicial member see the Queensland Civil and Administrative 13
Tribunal Act 2009. 14
Note-- 15
Section 196 clarifies the powers of those acting for others. 16
130 Reference of questions of law to Supreme Court 17
(1) The information commissioner may, at the request of a 18
participant in an external review or on the commissioner's 19
own initiative, refer a question of law arising on an external 20
review to the Supreme Court. 21
(2) The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear and decide a 22
question of law referred to it under this section. 23
(3) If a question of law is referred to the Supreme Court under 24
this section, the commissioner must not make a decision on 25
the external review while the reference is pending. 26
Page 94
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 3 Disclosure and amendment by application under this Act
Part 11 References of questions of law and appeals
[s 131]
(4) If the Supreme Court decides a question of law referred to it 1
under this section, the commissioner is bound by the decision. 2
(5) This section expires on the commencement of section 131. 3
131 Reference of questions of law to Queensland Civil and 4
Administrative Tribunal 5
(1) The information commissioner may, at the request of a 6
participant in an external review or on the commissioner's 7
own initiative, refer a question of law arising on an external 8
review to QCAT. 9
(2) QCAT must-- 10
(a) exercise its original jurisdiction under the QCAT Act to 11
hear and decide the question of law referred to it under 12
this section; and 13
(b) be constituted by 1 judicial member. 14
(3) If a question of law is referred to QCAT under this section, 15
the commissioner must not make a decision on the external 16
review while the reference is pending. 17
(4) If QCAT decides a question of law referred to it under this 18
section, the commissioner is bound by the decision. 19
132 Appeal to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal 20
on question of law 21
(1) A participant in an external review may appeal to the appeal 22
tribunal against a decision of the information commissioner 23
on the external review. 24
(2) The appeal may only be on a question of law. 25
(3) The notice of appeal must, unless the appeal tribunal orders 26
otherwise-- 27
(a) be filed in QCAT's registry within 20 business days after 28
the date of the decision appealed from; and 29
Page 95
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 1 Functions of information commissioner under this Act
[s 133]
(b) be served as soon as possible on all participants in the 1
external review. 2
(4) The appeal tribunal-- 3
(a) has jurisdiction to hear and decide the appeal; and 4
(b) must be constituted by 1 judicial member. 5
(5) The appeal may only be by way of a rehearing. 6
133 Application to Queensland Civil and Administrative 7
Tribunal for review of vexatious applicant declaration 8
(1) A person subject to a declaration made under section 127 may 9
apply, as provided under the QCAT Act, for a review of a 10
decision of the information commissioner to declare the 11
person a vexatious applicant. 12
(2) QCAT must exercise its review jurisdiction under the QCAT 13
Act. 14
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner 15
and Privacy Commissioner 16
Note-- 17
A reference in this chapter to an agency includes a reference to a 18
Minister, a department, a local government or a public authority--see 19
section 18. 20
Part 1 Functions of information 21
commissioner under this Act 22
134 Information commissioner not subject to direction 23
(1) The information commissioner is not subject to direction by 24
any person about-- 25
Page 96
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 1 Functions of information commissioner under this Act
[s 135]
(a) the way in which the commissioner's powers are to be 1
exercised in the performance of a function under section 2
135, 136 or 137; or 3
(b) the priority to be given to investigations and reviews 4
under this Act. 5
(2) Subsection (1) has effect despite the Public Service Act 2008. 6
135 Performance monitoring and support functions 7
(1) The functions of the information commissioner include-- 8
(a) on the commissioner's own initiative or otherwise-- 9
(i) conducting reviews into personal information 10
handling practices of relevant entities, including 11
technologies, programs, policies and procedures, 12
to identify privacy related issues of a systemic 13
nature generally or to identify particular grounds 14
for the issue of compliance notices; and 15
(ii) if considered appropriate, reporting to the Speaker 16
on the findings of any review; and 17
(b) leading the improvement of public sector privacy 18
administration in Queensland by taking appropriate 19
action to-- 20
(i) promote understanding of and compliance with the 21
privacy principles; and 22
(ii) provide best practice leadership and advice, 23
including by providing advice and assistance to 24
relevant entities on the interpretation and 25
administration of this Act; and 26
(iii) conduct compliance audits to assess relevant 27
entities' compliance with the privacy principles; 28
and 29
(iv) initiate privacy education and training, including 30
education and training programs targeted at 31
particular aspects of privacy administration, and 32
Page 97
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 1 Functions of information commissioner under this Act
[s 136]
education and training programs to promote 1
greater awareness of the operation of this Act in 2
the community and within the public sector 3
environment; and 4
(v) comment on any issues relating to the 5
administration of privacy in the public sector 6
environment; and 7
(c) issuing guidelines about any matter relating to the 8
information commissioner's functions, including 9
guidelines on how this Act should be applied and on 10
privacy best practice generally; and 11
(d) supporting applicants of any type under this Act, and all 12
relevant entities to the extent they are subject to the 13
operation of this Act. 14
(2) In this section-- 15
relevant entity means an agency or bound contracted service 16
provider. 17
136 Decision-making functions 18
The functions of the information commissioner include-- 19
(a) waiving or modifying privacy principles obligations 20
under part 5; and 21
(b) issuing compliance notices under part 6; and 22
(c) making, varying or revoking declarations under section 23
127 or 128; and 24
(d) dealing with privacy complaints under chapter 5. 25
137 External review functions 26
(1) The functions of the information commissioner include 27
investigating and reviewing decisions of agencies and 28
Ministers made subject to external review under chapter 3, 29
part 9. 30
Page 98
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 2 Staff of Office of Information Commissioner in relation to this Act
[s 138]
(2) The functions of the commissioner also include investigating 1
and reviewing whether, in relation to the decisions, agencies 2
have taken reasonable steps to identify and locate documents 3
applied for by applicants. 4
(3) In this section-- 5
agency means a chapter 3 agency. 6
138 Guidelines under Right to Information Act 7
To remove any doubt, it is declared that guidelines issued 8
under the Right to Information Act, section 132 may include 9
guidelines relating to the information commissioner's 10
functions under this Act. 11
Part 2 Staff of Office of Information 12
Commissioner in relation to 13
this Act 14
139 Delegation 15
The information commissioner may delegate to a member of 16
the staff of the OIC all or any of the commissioner's powers 17
under this Act. 18
140 Staff subject only to direction of information 19
commissioner 20
(1) The staff of the OIC are not subject to direction by any person, 21
other than the information commissioner or a person 22
authorised by the commissioner, about the performance of the 23
commissioner's functions under this Act. 24
(2) Subsection (1) has effect despite the Public Service Act 2008. 25
Page 99
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner
[s 141]
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner 1
141 The Privacy Commissioner 2
(1) There is to be a Privacy Commissioner (the privacy 3
commissioner). 4
(2) The privacy commissioner is a member of the staff of the OIC. 5
142 Role and function of privacy commissioner 6
(1) The privacy commissioner's role is that of a deputy to the 7
information commissioner, with particular responsibility for 8
matters relating to the information commissioner's functions 9
under this Act. 10
(2) The privacy commissioner's function is to perform the 11
functions of the information commissioner under this Act to 12
the extent the functions are delegated to the privacy 13
commissioner by the information commissioner. 14
143 Privacy commissioner subject to direction of information 15
commissioner 16
The privacy commissioner is subject to the direction of the 17
information commissioner. 18
144 Appointment 19
(1) The privacy commissioner is appointed by the Governor in 20
Council. 21
(2) The privacy commissioner is appointed under this Act and not 22
under the Public Service Act 2008. 23
145 Procedure before appointment 24
(1) A person may be appointed as privacy commissioner only if-- 25
Page 100
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner
[s 146]
(a) the Minister has placed press advertisements nationally 1
calling for applications from suitably qualified persons 2
to be considered for appointment; and 3
(b) the Minister has consulted with the parliamentary 4
committee about-- 5
(i) the process of selection for appointment; and 6
(ii) the appointment of the person as privacy 7
commissioner. 8
(2) Subsection (1)(a) and (b)(i) does not apply to the 9
reappointment of a person as privacy commissioner. 10
146 Term of appointment 11
(1) The privacy commissioner holds office for the term, of not 12
more than 5 years, stated in the instrument of appointment. 13
(2) However, a person being reappointed as privacy 14
commissioner can not be reappointed for a term that would 15
result in the person holding office as privacy commissioner for 16
more than 10 years continuously. 17
147 Remuneration and conditions 18
(1) The privacy commissioner must be paid remuneration and 19
other allowances decided by the Governor in Council. 20
(2) The remuneration paid to the privacy commissioner must not 21
be reduced during the commissioner's term of office without 22
the commissioner's written agreement. 23
(3) In relation to matters not provided for by this Act, the privacy 24
commissioner holds office on the terms and conditions 25
decided by the Governor in Council. 26
Page 101
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner
[s 148]
148 Leave of absence 1
The Minister may grant leave to the privacy commissioner in 2
accordance with entitlements available to the commissioner 3
under the commissioner's conditions of office. 4
149 Preservation of rights if public service officer appointed 5
(1) A public service officer who is appointed to the office of 6
privacy commissioner or who is appointed to act in the office 7
is entitled to retain all existing and accruing rights as if service 8
in the office were a continuation of service as a public service 9
officer. 10
(2) If the person stops holding the office for a reason other than 11
misconduct, the person is entitled to be employed as a public 12
service officer. 13
(3) The person must be employed on the classification level and 14
remuneration that the Public Service Commission under the 15
Public Service Act 2008 or another entity prescribed under a 16
regulation considers the person would have attained in the 17
ordinary course of progression if the person had continued in 18
employment as a public service officer. 19
150 Restriction on outside employment 20
(1) The privacy commissioner must not, without the Minister's 21
prior approval in each particular case-- 22
(a) hold any office of profit other than that of privacy 23
commissioner; or 24
(b) engage in any remunerative employment or undertaking 25
outside the duties of the office. 26
(2) Contravention of subsection (1) is misconduct under the Right 27
to Information Act, section 160(a). 28
Page 102
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 3 Privacy Commissioner
[s 151]
151 Resignation 1
(1) The privacy commissioner may resign by signed notice given 2
to the Minister. 3
(2) As soon as practicable after the notice is given to the Minister, 4
the Minister must-- 5
(a) give the notice to the Governor for information; and 6
(b) give a copy of the notice to-- 7
(i) the Speaker of the Assembly; and 8
(ii) the chairperson of the parliamentary committee. 9
(3) Failure to comply with subsection (2) does not affect the 10
effectiveness of the resignation. 11
152 Acting privacy commissioner 12
(1) The Governor in Council may appoint a person to act as 13
privacy commissioner-- 14
(a) during a vacancy in the office; or 15
(b) during any period, or during all periods, when the 16
privacy commissioner is absent from duty or from 17
Australia or is, for another reason, unable to perform the 18
duties of the office. 19
(2) The acting privacy commissioner is appointed under this Act 20
and not the Public Service Act 2008. 21
(3) The Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 25(1)(b)(iv) and (v) 22
does not apply to the office of acting privacy commissioner. 23
Page 103
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 4 Proceedings
[s 153]
Part 4 Proceedings 1
153 Third party proceedings 2
(1) The information commissioner or a member of the staff of the 3
OIC can not be compelled-- 4
(a) to produce a privacy document in third party legal 5
proceedings; or 6
(b) to disclose privacy information in third party legal 7
proceedings. 8
(2) In this section-- 9
privacy document means a document received, or created, by 10
the commissioner or member in performing functions under 11
this Act. 12
privacy information means information that the 13
commissioner or member obtained in performing functions 14
under this Act. 15
third party legal proceedings means a legal proceeding other 16
than-- 17
(a) a legal proceeding started by the commissioner; or 18
(b) a legal proceeding started against the commissioner or 19
member arising out of the performance of functions 20
under this Act. 21
154 Costs in proceedings 22
If a proceeding arising out of the performance of the functions 23
of the information commissioner under this Act is started by 24
the State, the reasonable costs of a party to the proceeding 25
must be paid by the State. 26
Page 104
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 5 Waiving or modifying privacy principles obligations in the public interest
[s 155]
155 Information commissioner and privacy commissioner 1
may appear in proceedings 2
The information commissioner or privacy commissioner is 3
entitled to appear and be heard in a proceeding arising out of 4
the performance of the functions of the commissioner. 5
156 Intervention by Attorney-General 6
(1) The Attorney-General may, for the State, intervene in a 7
proceeding before a court arising out of the performance of 8
the functions of the information commissioner under this Act. 9
(2) If the Attorney-General intervenes-- 10
(a) the court may make the order as to costs against the 11
State the court considers appropriate; and 12
(b) the Attorney-General becomes a party to the 13
proceeding. 14
Part 5 Waiving or modifying privacy 15
principles obligations in the 16
public interest 17
157 Waiver or modification approval 18
(1) An agency may apply to the information commissioner for an 19
approval under this section. 20
(2) The commissioner may, by gazette notice, give an approval 21
that waives or modifies the agency's obligation to comply 22
with the privacy principles-- 23
(a) if it is a temporary approval--for the period of the 24
approval's operation; or 25
(b) otherwise--until the approval is revoked or amended. 26
Page 105
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 6 Compliance notices
[s 158]
(3) The Statutory Instruments Act 1992, sections 49 to 51 apply to 1
a gazette notice under subsection (2), including a gazette 2
notice revoking or amending an approval, as if it were 3
subordinate legislation. 4
(4) The commissioner may give an approval under this section 5
only if the commissioner is satisfied that the public interest in 6
the agency's compliance with the privacy principles is 7
outweighed by the public interest in waiving or modifying the 8
agency's compliance with the privacy principles to the extent 9
stated in the approval. 10
(5) While an approval is in force, the agency to which it applies 11
does not contravene this Act in relation to the privacy 12
principles if it acts in accordance with the approval. 13
(6) If the commissioner gives an approval under this section-- 14
(a) the commissioner must also ensure that a copy of the 15
gazette notice is published on the commissioner's 16
website on the internet while the approval is in force; 17
and 18
(b) if it is practicable to do so, the agency the subject of the 19
approval must ensure that a copy of the gazette notice is 20
published on the agency's website on the internet. 21
(7) In this section-- 22
agency includes a bound contracted service provider. 23
Part 6 Compliance notices 24
158 Compliance notice 25
(1) The information commissioner may give an agency a notice 26
(compliance notice) if the commissioner is satisfied on 27
reasonable grounds that the agency-- 28
Page 106
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 6 Compliance notices
[s 159]
(a) has done an act or engaged in a practice in contravention 1
of the agency's obligation to comply with the privacy 2
principles; and 3
(b) the act or practice-- 4
(i) is a serious or flagrant contravention of the 5
obligation; or 6
(ii) is of a kind that has been done or engaged in by the 7
agency on at least 5 separate occasions within the 8
last 2 years. 9
(2) A compliance notice may require an agency to take stated 10
action within a stated period for the purpose of ensuring 11
compliance with the obligation. 12
159 Extension of time for compliance 13
(1) An agency that is given a compliance notice may ask the 14
information commissioner to extend the time within which it 15
must take the action stated in the compliance notice. 16
(2) The commissioner may amend the compliance notice by 17
extending the period stated in the compliance notice for taking 18
the action stated in the notice. 19
(3) Before the commissioner extends the period-- 20
(a) the commissioner must be satisfied that it is not 21
reasonably practicable for the agency to take the action 22
stated in the compliance notice within the time stated in 23
the notice; and 24
(b) the agency must give the commissioner an undertaking 25
to take the stated action within the extended period. 26
160 Agency must comply with notice 27
An agency that is given a compliance notice under this part 28
must take all reasonable steps to comply with the notice. 29
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 30
Page 107
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 4 Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Part 6 Compliance notices
[s 161]
161 Application to Queensland Civil and Administrative 1
Tribunal for review of decision to give compliance notice 2
(1) An agency given a compliance notice under this part may 3
apply, as provided under the QCAT Act, to QCAT for a review 4
of a decision of the information commissioner to give the 5
agency the compliance notice. 6
(2) QCAT must exercise its review jurisdiction under the QCAT 7
Act. 8
162 Parties to QCAT proceeding 9
The agency given a compliance notice and the information 10
commissioner are both parties to-- 11
(a) an application to QCAT to review the decision to give 12
the notice; and 13
(b) any review by QCAT of the decision. 14
163 How QCAT may dispose of review 15
If QCAT reviews a decision of the information commissioner 16
to give an agency a compliance notice, QCAT may make any 17
of the following orders-- 18
(a) confirm the commissioner's decision to give the 19
compliance notice; 20
(b) confirm the commissioner's decision to give a 21
compliance notice but substitute a compliance notice 22
that is in different terms from the compliance notice 23
given; 24
(c) revoke the giving of the compliance notice; 25
(d) revoke the giving of the compliance notice and give the 26
commissioner directions about the issuing of a 27
replacement compliance notice. 28
Page 108
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 1 Making privacy complaints
[s 164]
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints 1
Note-- 2
A reference in this chapter to an agency includes a reference to a 3
Minister, a department, a local government or a public authority--see 4
section 18. 5
Part 1 Making privacy complaints 6
164 Meaning of privacy complaint 7
(1) A privacy complaint is a complaint by an individual about an 8
act or practice of a relevant entity (the respondent for the 9
complaint) in relation to the individual's personal information 10
that is a breach of the relevant entity's obligation under this 11
Act to comply with-- 12
(a) the privacy principles; or 13
(b) an approval under section 157. 14
(2) In this chapter-- 15
relevant entity means-- 16
(a) an agency, in relation to documents of the agency; or 17
(b) a bound contracted service provider, in relation to 18
documents held by the bound contracted service 19
provider for the purposes of performing its obligations 20
under a service arrangement. 21
165 Privacy complaint may be made or referred to information 22
commissioner 23
(1) An individual whose personal information is, or at any time 24
has been, held by a relevant entity may make a privacy 25
complaint to the information commissioner. 26
(2) Also, a privacy complaint may be referred to the 27
commissioner by any of the following entities-- 28
Page 109
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 1 Making privacy complaints
[s 166]
(a) the ombudsman; 1
(b) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under 2
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 3
2006; 4
(c) a person or other entity having responsibilities, under a 5
law of another State or the Commonwealth that 6
corresponds to this Act, that correspond to the 7
responsibilities of the commissioner under this Act; 8
(d) any other commission or external review body that has 9
received the privacy complaint in performing its 10
functions under a law. 11
(3) As soon as practicable after receiving a privacy complaint 12
made or referred under this section, the commissioner must 13
advise the relevant entity the subject of the complaint. 14
166 Requirements for privacy complaint 15
(1) A privacy complaint made or referred to the information 16
commissioner must-- 17
(a) be written; and 18
(b) state an address of the complainant to which notices 19
may be forwarded under this Act; and 20
(c) give particulars of the act or practice complained of. 21
(2) For a privacy complaint made to the commissioner by an 22
individual, the commissioner must give reasonable help to the 23
complainant to put the complaint into written form. 24
(3) However, an individual may not make a privacy complaint to 25
the commissioner unless-- 26
(a) the individual has first complained to an appropriate 27
person within the relevant entity under the complaints 28
management system of the relevant entity; and 29
(b) at least 45 business days have elapsed since the 30
complaint was made under paragraph (a); and 31
Page 110
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 2 Dealing with privacy complaints
[s 167]
(c) the individual has not received a response to the 1
complaint or the individual has received a response but 2
considers the response not to be an adequate response. 3
Part 2 Dealing with privacy 4
complaints 5
167 Preliminary action 6
The information commissioner may make preliminary 7
inquiries of the complainant and the respondent for a privacy 8
complaint to decide whether the commissioner is authorised 9
to deal with the privacy complaint and whether the 10
commissioner may decline to deal with the complaint. 11
168 Information commissioner may decline to deal with or to 12
deal further with complaint 13
(1) The information commissioner may decline to deal with a 14
privacy complaint, or a part of a privacy complaint, made or 15
referred to the commissioner if-- 16
(a) the act or practice the subject of the complaint or part 17
does not relate to the personal information of the 18
complainant; or 19
(b) the requirements under section 166(3) for making a 20
complaint have not been fully satisfied; or 21
(c) the commissioner reasonably believes the complaint or 22
part is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in 23
substance; or 24
(d) there is a more appropriate course of action available 25
under another Act to deal with the substance of the 26
complaint or part; or 27
Page 111
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 2 Dealing with privacy complaints
[s 169]
(e) although the complainant made the complaint to the 1
respondent as required under section 166(3), in the 2
circumstances, the respondent has not yet had an 3
adequate opportunity to deal with the complaint or part; 4
or 5
(f) 12 months have elapsed since the complainant first 6
became aware of the act or practice the subject of the 7
complaint or part. 8
(2) The commissioner may decline to continue dealing with a 9
privacy complaint, or a part of a privacy complaint, made or 10
referred to the commissioner if-- 11
(a) the complainant does not comply with a reasonable 12
request made by the commissioner in dealing with the 13
complaint or part; or 14
(b) the commissioner is satisfied on reasonable grounds that 15
the complainant, without a reasonable excuse, has not 16
cooperated in the commissioner's dealing with the 17
complaint or part; or 18
(c) the commissioner considers the address the complainant 19
stated in making the privacy complaint is no longer the 20
address at which the complainant can be contacted, and 21
the complainant has not, within a reasonable time, 22
advised the commissioner of a new address to which 23
notices may be sent under this Act. 24
169 Referral of privacy complaint to other entity 25
(1) If the subject of a privacy complaint could be the subject of a 26
complaint under the Ombudsman Act 2001, the information 27
commissioner may refer the complaint to the ombudsman. 28
(2) If the subject of a privacy complaint could be the subject of a 29
complaint under the Health Quality and Complaints 30
Commission Act 2006, the commissioner may refer the 31
complaint to the Health Quality and Complaints Commission 32
under that Act. 33
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 2 Dealing with privacy complaints
[s 170]
(3) If the subject of a privacy complaint could be the subject of a 1
complaint under a law of another State or the Commonwealth 2
that corresponds to this Act, the commissioner may refer the 3
complaint to the entity under that law having responsibility 4
for dealing with complaints in the nature of privacy 5
complaints. 6
170 Arrangement with ombudsman 7
(1) The information commissioner may enter into an arrangement 8
with the ombudsman providing for-- 9
(a) the privacy complaints under this chapter that the 10
commissioner should refer to the ombudsman because 11
they-- 12
(i) relate to administrative actions; and 13
(ii) would be more appropriately dealt with by the 14
ombudsman under the Ombudsman Act 2001; or 15
(b) the complaints under the Ombudsman Act 2001 that the 16
ombudsman should refer to the commissioner because 17
they-- 18
(i) relate to decisions or other actions for which the 19
commissioner has jurisdiction; and 20
(ii) would be more appropriately dealt with by the 21
commissioner under this chapter; or 22
(c) how to deal with an administrative action that is the 23
subject of a complaint, preliminary inquiry or 24
investigation under the Ombudsman Act 2001 and a 25
privacy complaint under this chapter; or 26
(d) the cooperative performance by the commissioner and 27
the ombudsman of their respective functions relating to 28
administrative actions. 29
(2) If an arrangement entered into under subsection (1) provides 30
for referrals as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b), the 31
arrangement must also provide for how the referral is to be 32
made. 33
Page 113
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 3 Mediation of privacy complaints
[s 171]
(3) The commissioner and the ombudsman are empowered to 1
perform their functions in accordance with any relevant 2
arrangement entered into under this section. 3
(4) In this section-- 4
administrative action has the meaning given by the 5
Ombudsman Act 2001, section 7. 6
Part 3 Mediation of privacy 7
complaints 8
171 Attempting resolution through mediation 9
(1) The information commissioner must consider whether, in the 10
circumstances as known to the commissioner, resolution of a 11
privacy complaint could be achieved through mediation. 12
(2) If it appears to the commissioner that it is reasonably likely 13
that resolution of the privacy complaint could be achieved 14
through mediation, the commissioner must take all reasonable 15
steps to cause the complaint to be mediated. 16
172 Certification of mediated agreement 17
(1) This section applies if, after mediation of a privacy complaint, 18
the complainant and the respondent for the complaint agree on 19
a resolution of the complaint. 20
(2) The complainant or the respondent may ask the information 21
commissioner to prepare a written record of the agreement. 22
(3) A request under subsection (2) must be made within 20 23
business days after the agreement is reached under subsection 24
(1). 25
(4) If a request is made under subsection (2), the commissioner 26
must take all reasonable steps to-- 27
Page 114
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 4 Referral of privacy complaints to QCAT
[s 173]
(a) prepare a written record of the agreement; and 1
(b) have the record signed by both the complainant and the 2
respondent; and 3
(c) certify the agreement. 4
173 Filing of certified agreement with Queensland Civil and 5
Administrative Tribunal 6
(1) The complainant or respondent to a privacy complaint the 7
subject of a certified agreement under this part may file a copy 8
of the agreement with QCAT. 9
(2) QCAT may make orders necessary to give effect to the 10
certified agreement if, within 5 business days after the 11
agreement is filed with QCAT, neither the complainant nor the 12
respondent advises QCAT that the party wishes to withdraw 13
from the agreement. 14
(3) However, QCAT may make an order under subsection (2) 15
only if it is satisfied that implementation of the order is 16
practicable and that the order is consistent with an order 17
QCAT may make under the QCAT Act. 18
(4) An order under subsection (2) becomes, and may be enforced 19
as, an order of QCAT under the QCAT Act. 20
Part 4 Referral of privacy complaints 21
to QCAT 22
174 Application of pt 4 23
This part applies if a privacy complaint is made to the 24
information commissioner under this chapter, and-- 25
(a) it does not appear to the commissioner reasonably likely 26
that resolution of the complaint could be achieved 27
through mediation; or 28
Page 115
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 4 Referral of privacy complaints to QCAT
[s 175]
(b) mediation of the complaint is attempted under this 1
chapter but a certified agreement for the resolution of 2
the complaint is not achieved. 3
175 Advice to parties 4
The information commissioner must give written notice to 5
both the complainant and the respondent for the privacy 6
complaint advising-- 7
(a) that this part applies and why it applies; and 8
(b) that the commissioner will, if asked by the complainant 9
to do so, refer the privacy complaint to QCAT for 10
hearing. 11
176 Referral to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal 12
(1) The information commissioner must refer the privacy 13
complaint to QCAT, if asked to do so by the complainant, 14
within 20 business days after being asked to refer it. 15
(2) QCAT must exercise its original jurisdiction under the QCAT 16
Act to hear and decide a privacy complaint referred to it under 17
this section. 18
177 Parties to QCAT proceeding 19
(1) The complainant and respondent for a privacy complaint the 20
information commissioner refers to QCAT are both parties to 21
the proceeding before QCAT. 22
(2) The complainant is taken to be the applicant for the 23
proceeding before QCAT. 24
178 How QCAT may dispose of complaint 25
After the hearing of a privacy complaint referred to QCAT, 26
QCAT may make 1 or more of the following orders-- 27
Page 116
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 5 Privacy complaints
Part 4 Referral of privacy complaints to QCAT
[s 178]
(a) an order that the complaint, or a part of the complaint, 1
has been substantiated, together with, if considered 2
appropriate, an order in accordance with 1 or more of 3
the following-- 4
(i) that an act or practice of the respondent is an 5
interference with the privacy of the complainant 6
for the complaint and that the respondent must not 7
repeat or continue the act or practice; 8
(ii) that the respondent must engage in a stated 9
reasonable act or practice to compensate for loss or 10
damage suffered by the complainant; 11
(iii) that the respondent must apologise to the 12
complainant for the interference with the privacy 13
of the complainant; 14
(iv) that the respondent must make stated amendments 15
of documents it holds; 16
(v) that the complainant is entitled to a stated amount, 17
of not more than $100000, to compensate the 18
complainant for loss or damage suffered by the 19
complainant because of the act or practice 20
complained of, including for any injury to the 21
complainant's feelings or humiliation suffered by 22
the complainant; 23
(b) an order that the complaint, or a part of the complaint, 24
has been substantiated together with an order that no 25
further action is required to be taken; 26
(c) an order that the complaint, or a part of the complaint, 27
has not been substantiated, together with an order that 28
the complaint or part is dismissed; 29
(d) an order that the complainant be reimbursed for 30
expenses reasonably incurred in connection with 31
making the complaint. 32
Page 117
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 1 Protections
[s 179]
Chapter 6 Protections and offences 1
Note-- 2
A reference in this chapter to an agency includes a reference to a 3
Minister, a department, a local government or a public authority, but 4
also includes a chapter 3 agency--see section 18 and schedule 5, 5
definition agency. 6
Part 1 Protections 7
179 Access--protection against actions for defamation or 8
breach of confidence 9
(1) If a person has been given access to a document and-- 10
(a) the access was required or permitted to be given under 11
this Act; or 12
(b) the access was authorised by a decision-maker, in the 13
genuine belief that the access was required or permitted 14
to be given under this Act; 15
then-- 16
(c) no action for defamation or breach of confidence lies 17
against the State, an agency or officer of an agency 18
because of the authorising or giving of the access; and 19
(d) no action for defamation or breach of confidence in 20
relation to any publication involved in, or resulting 21
from, the giving of the access lies against the author of 22
the document or another person because of the author or 23
another person having given the document to an agency. 24
(2) The giving of access to a document (including an exempt 25
document or contrary to public interest document) because of 26
an access application or in compliance with the privacy 27
principles must not be taken for the purposes of the law 28
relating to defamation or breach of confidence to constitute an 29
authorisation or approval of the publication of the document 30
or its contents by the person to whom access is given. 31
Page 118
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 1 Protections
[s 180]
(3) In this section-- 1
document includes a chapter 3 document. 2
180 Publication--protection against actions for defamation or 3
breach of confidence 4
(1) If a chapter 3 document has been published and the 5
publication was required under section 123 or authorised by 6
the information commissioner in the genuine belief that the 7
publication was required under section 123-- 8
(a) no action for defamation or breach of confidence lies 9
against the State, an agency, the information 10
commissioner or an officer because of the publication; 11
and 12
(b) no action for defamation or breach of confidence in 13
relation to the publication or a resulting publication lies 14
against the author of the document or another person 15
because of the author or another person having given the 16
document to an agency or the commissioner. 17
(2) The publication of a document (including an exempt 18
document or contrary to public interest document) under 19
section 123 must not be taken for the purposes of the law 20
relating to defamation or breach of confidence to constitute an 21
authorisation or approval of the publication of the document 22
or its contents. 23
181 Access--protection in respect of offences 24
(1) If access has been given to a document and-- 25
(a) the access was required or permitted to be given under 26
this Act; or 27
(b) the access was authorised by a decision-maker in the 28
genuine belief that the access was required or permitted 29
to be given under this Act; 30
Page 119
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 1 Protections
[s 182]
neither the person authorising the access nor any other person 1
concerned in the giving of the access commits a criminal 2
offence merely because of authorising or giving of the access. 3
(2) In this section-- 4
document includes a chapter 3 document. 5
182 Publication--protection in respect of offences 6
If-- 7
(a) a chapter 3 document has been published; and 8
(b) the publication was required under section 123 or 9
authorised by the information commissioner in the 10
genuine belief that the publication was required under 11
section 123; 12
the person authorising publication and any other person 13
concerned in the publication of the document do not commit a 14
criminal offence merely because of authorising or being 15
concerned in the publication. 16
183 Protection of agency, information commissioner etc. from 17
personal liability 18
(1) A relevant entity does not incur civil liability for an act done 19
or omission made honestly and without negligence under this 20
Act. 21
(2) A liability that would, other than for this section, attach to a 22
relevant entity attaches instead to the State. 23
(3) In this section-- 24
relevant entity means any of the following-- 25
(a) an agency; 26
(b) an agency's principal officer; 27
(c) a decision-maker; 28
Page 120
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 2 Offences
[s 184]
(d) a person acting under the direction of an agency or an 1
agency's principal officer; 2
(e) the information commissioner; 3
(f) a member of the staff of the OIC. 4
Part 2 Offences 5
184 Direction to act in particular way 6
(1) A person must not give a direction, either orally or in writing
to a person required or permitted to make a decision under this 8
7
Act directing the person to make a decision the person 9
believes is not the decision that should be made under this 10
Act. 11
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 12
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the information 13
commissioner or a person authorised by the commissioner in 14
relation to a direction that may be given to a member of the 15
staff of the OIC under section 140. 16
(3) A person must not give a direction, either orally or in writing
to a person who is an employee or officer of the agency 18
17
involved in a matter under this Act directing the person to act 19
contrary to the requirements of this Act. 20
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 21
185 Unlawful access 22
(1) A person must not, in order to gain access to a document 23
containing another person's personal information knowingly 24
deceive or mislead a person exercising powers under this Act. 25
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 26
Page 121
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 6 Protections and offences
Part 2 Offences
[s 186]
(2) In this section-- 1
document includes a chapter 3 document. 2
186 False or misleading information 3
(1) A person must not give information to the information 4
commissioner, or a member of the staff of the OIC, that the 5
person knows is false or misleading in a material particular. 6
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 7
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to information given in a 8
document, if the person when giving the document-- 9
(a) informs the commissioner or member, to the best of the 10
person's ability, how the information is false or 11
misleading; and 12
(b) gives the correct information to commissioner or 13
member if the person has, or can reasonably obtain, the 14
correct information. 15
(3) It is enough for a complaint against a person for an offence 16
against subsection (1) to state that the information was `false 17
or misleading', without specifying whether it was false or 18
whether it was misleading. 19
187 Failure to produce documents or attend proceedings 20
(1) A person given notice under section 116 or 197 to-- 21
(a) give information; or 22
(b) produce a document; or 23
(c) attend before the information commissioner; 24
must not, without reasonable excuse, fail to do so. 25
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 26
(2) In this section-- 27
document includes a chapter 3 document. 28
Page 122
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 1 Archival documents
[s 188]
188 Disclosure or taking advantage of information 1
If a person is or has been the information commissioner or a 2
member of the staff of the OIC, the person must not-- 3
(a) otherwise than for the purposes of this Act or a 4
proceeding arising under this Act, disclose any 5
information that the person obtained in performing 6
functions under this Act; or 7
(b) take advantage of that information to benefit himself or 8
herself or another person. 9
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 10
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions 11
Note-- 12
A reference in this chapter to an agency includes a reference to a 13
Minister, a department, a local government or a public authority--see 14
section 18. 15
Part 1 Archival documents 16
189 Operation of Public Records Act 2002 17
(1) Without limiting section 4, this Act does not affect the 18
provisions of the Public Records Act 2002 relating to the 19
giving of access to documents by the Queensland State 20
Archives. 21
(2) Without limiting section 7, the Public Records Act 2002 does 22
not prevent a person obtaining access to a document in the 23
custody of Queensland State Archives to which a person may 24
obtain access under this Act. 25
Page 123
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 1 Archival documents
[s 190]
190 Non-official documents in Queensland State Archives 1
etc. 2
(1) A document that-- 3
(a) has been placed in the custody of Queensland State 4
Archives or a public library by a person; and 5
(b) was not, immediately before being placed in that 6
custody, a document of an agency; 7
is available for access to members of the community under 8
this Act, subject to any restrictions or conditions imposed by 9
the person-- 10
(c) at the time the document was placed in the custody of 11
the Queensland State Archives or public library; or 12
(d) as permitted under section 23(2) of the repealed 13
Freedom of Information Act 1992. 14
(2) In this section-- 15
agency means a chapter 3 agency. 16
191 Official documents in Queensland State Archives 17
(1) For the purposes of this Act, a document that-- 18
(a) has been placed in the custody of the Queensland State 19
Archives by an agency (whether before or after the 20
commencement of this section); and 21
(b) is not reasonably available for inspection under the 22
Public Records Act 2002; 23
is taken to be in the agency's possession, or, if the agency no 24
longer exists, to be in the possession of the agency whose 25
functions are most closely related to the document, if the 26
agency is entitled to access to the document. 27
(2) For the purposes of this Act, a document that has been placed 28
by an agency (including the Queensland State Archives) in a 29
place of deposit under the Libraries Act 1988 (whether before 30
or after the commencement of this part) or the Public Records 31
Page 124
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 2 Operation of this Act
[s 192]
Act 2002 is taken to be in the agency's possession, or, if the 1
agency no longer exists, the agency whose functions are most 2
closely related to the document, if the agency is entitled to 3
access to the document. 4
(3) In this section-- 5
agency means a chapter 3 agency. 6
Part 2 Operation of this Act 7
192 Review of Act 8
(1) The Minister must review this Act and the review must start 9
no later than 2 years after the commencement of this section. 10
(2) The objects of the review include-- 11
(a) deciding whether the primary object of this Act remains 12
valid; and 13
(b) deciding whether this Act is meeting its primary object; 14
and 15
(c) deciding whether the provisions of this Act are 16
appropriate for meeting its primary object; and 17
(d) investigating any specific issue recommended by the 18
Minister or the information commissioner. 19
(3) The Minister must, as soon as practicable after finishing the 20
review, table a report about the outcome of the review in the 21
Assembly. 22
193 Reports of information commissioner 23
(1) The information commissioner may make a report to the 24
Speaker on matters relating to a particular external review. 25
Page 125
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 2 Operation of this Act
[s 194]
(2) The commissioner must, as soon as practicable after the end 1
of each financial year, give the Speaker and parliamentary 2
committee a report of the operations of the OIC under this Act 3
during that year. 4
(3) A report under subsection (2) must include, in relation to the 5
financial year to which it relates, details of the matters 6
prescribed under a regulation. 7
(4) The parliamentary committee may require the information 8
commissioner to prepare and give the committee a report on a 9
particular aspect of the performance of the commissioner's 10
functions. 11
(5) If a report of the commissioner is given to the Speaker or the 12
parliamentary committee, the Speaker or chairperson of the 13
committee must cause the report to be tabled in the Assembly 14
on the next sitting day after it is given. 15
(6) An annual report under this section may be included as part of 16
an annual report the commissioner is required to give under 17
the Right to Information Act. 18
194 Report to Assembly on Act's operation 19
(1) The Minister administering this Act shall, as soon as 20
practicable after the end of each financial year, prepare a 21
report on the operation of this Act during that year and cause a 22
copy of the report to be tabled in the Assembly. 23
(2) A report under subsection (1) must include, in relation to the 24
financial year to which it relates, particulars of the matters 25
prescribed under a regulation. 26
(3) An annual report under this section may be included as part of 27
an annual report the Minister is required to give under the 28
Right to Information Act. 29
195 Functions of parliamentary committee 30
The parliamentary committee has the following functions 31
under this Act-- 32
Page 126
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 2 Operation of this Act
[s 195]
(a) to monitor and review the performance by the 1
information commissioner of the commissioner's 2
functions under this Act; 3
(b) to report to the Assembly on any matter concerning the 4
commissioner, the commissioner's functions or the 5
performance of the commissioner's functions that the 6
committee considers should be drawn to the Assembly's 7
attention; 8
(c) to decide, in consultation with the commissioner, the 9
statistical information (including statistical information 10
about giving access to information other than on an 11
access application) agencies are to give the 12
commissioner for the report under the Right to 13
Information Act, section 131; 14
(d) to examine each annual report tabled in the Assembly 15
under this Act and, if appropriate, to comment on any 16
aspect of the report and to make recommendations; 17
(e) to report to the Assembly any changes to the functions, 18
structures and procedures of the OIC the committee 19
considers desirable for the more effective operation of 20
this Act; 21
(f) the other functions conferred on the parliamentary 22
committee by this Act. 23
Note-- 24
The parliamentary committee also has functions under other 25
Acts, for example, the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001, 26
section 86 (Administrative review reform). 27
Page 127
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 3 Other
[s 196]
Part 3 Other 1
196 Power of person acting for another person 2
(1) To remove any doubt, it is declared that, in relation to an 3
access or amendment application or other matter under this 4
Act-- 5
(a) a person's agent is able to do, in accordance with the 6
terms of the person's authorisation as agent, anything 7
that the person could do; and 8
(b) a child's parent is able to do anything that the child 9
could do if the child were an adult. 10
(2) In this section-- 11
child see section 45. 12
parent see section 45. 13
197 Power of information commissioner for compliance 14
notices and privacy complaints 15
(1) This section applies if the information commissioner is 16
satisfied on reasonable grounds that a person has information 17
relevant to-- 18
(a) a decision of the commissioner whether to give an 19
agency a compliance notice under chapter 4; or 20
(b) the mediation of a privacy complaint under chapter 5. 21
(2) The commissioner may give the person a written notice 22
requiring the person to give the information to the 23
commissioner in written form. 24
(3) The written notice given by the commissioner must state-- 25
(a) where the information must be given to the 26
commissioner; and 27
(b) a reasonable time at which, or a reasonable period 28
within which, the information must be given. 29
Page 128
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 3 Other
[s 198]
(4) The commissioner may also give the person a written notice 1
requiring the person to attend before the commissioner at a 2
reasonable time and place stated in the notice to answer 3
questions relevant to the giving of the compliance notice or to 4
the privacy complaint the subject of the mediation. 5
(5) The commissioner may administer an oath or affirmation to a 6
person required under subsection (4) to attend before the 7
commissioner and may examine the person on oath or 8
affirmation. 9
(6) The oath or affirmation is an oath or affirmation that the 10
answers the person will give will be true. 11
198 Rules and procedures of Queensland Civil and 12
Administrative Tribunal 13
(1) Anything done under this Act involving QCAT must be done 14
in accordance with QCAT rules and procedures. 15
Examples-- 16
· rules and procedures relating to filing of documents 17
· rules and procedures relating to conduct of hearings 18
(2) However, for the QCAT Act, section 43(2)(b)(iii), a person 19
may be represented before QCAT by a lawyer on a reference 20
of a question of law under section 131 or on an appeal on a 21
question of law under section 132. 22
(3) In this section-- 23
QCAT rules and procedures means the rules and procedures 24
applying to QCAT under the QCAT Act. 25
199 Contents of prescribed written notice 26
If an agency must give a person a prescribed written notice of 27
a decision under this Act, the notice must be in writing and 28
state the following details-- 29
(a) the decision; 30
Page 129
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions
[s 200]
(b) the reasons for the decision; 1
Note-- 2
See the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 27B (Content of 3
statement of reasons for decision). 4
(c) the day the decision was made; 5
(d) the name and designation of the person making the 6
decision; 7
(e) if the decision is not the decision sought by the 8
person--any rights of review given under this Act in 9
relation to the decision, the procedures to be followed 10
for exercising the rights and the time within which an 11
application for review must be made. 12
200 Approval of forms 13
The chief executive may approve forms for use under this Act. 14
201 Regulation-making power 15
The Governor in Council may make regulations under this 16
Act. 17
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions 18
202 Delayed application of Act other than ch 3 to local 19
governments 20
(1) This Act, other than the relevant provisions, does not apply to 21
a local government until 1 year after the commencement of 22
this section. 23
(2) In this section-- 24
relevant provisions means-- 25
(a) chapter 3; and 26
Page 130
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions
Part 3 Other
[s 203]
(b) the other provisions of this Act to the extent they apply 1
for the purposes of chapter 3. 2
203 Outdated references 3
In an Act or document, if the context permits, a reference to 4
the Freedom of Information Act 1992, is taken to be a 5
reference to this Act. 6
204 Pre-enactment recruitment process 7
An appointment of a person as privacy commissioner after the 8
enactment of this Act is not to be taken to be invalid only 9
because action was taken in relation to the filling of the role of 10
privacy commissioner before the enactment. 11
205 Refusal to deal with application--previous application for 12
same documents 13
For section 62 or 63, a first application may be an application 14
under the repealed Freedom of Information Act 1992. 15
206 Delayed filing of certified agreement with QCAT 16
(1) This section applies if-- 17
(a) a privacy complaint becomes the subject of a certified 18
agreement under chapter 5 before QCAT comes into 19
existence; and 20
(b) the complainant or respondent for the complaint wishes 21
to file a copy of the agreement with QCAT. 22
(2) The agreement must be filed within 20 business days after 23
QCAT comes into existence. 24
Page 131
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions
[s 207]
207 Delayed referral of privacy complaint to QCAT 1
(1) This section applies if the information commissioner is 2
required under chapter 5 to refer a privacy complaint to QCAT 3
before QCAT comes into existence. 4
(2) The commissioner must refer the privacy complaint to QCAT 5
within 20 business days after QCAT comes into existence. 6
208 Delayed application to QCAT 7
(1) If a person may appeal to the appeal tribunal under section 8
132 before QCAT comes into existence, the person may 9
appeal to the appeal tribunal within 20 business days after 10
QCAT comes into existence. 11
(2) If a person may, within a period, apply to QCAT under section 12
133 before QCAT comes into existence, the person may apply 13
to QCAT within that period after QCAT comes into existence. 14
209 Privacy complaints to relate to actions after ch 5 15
commencement 16
A privacy complaint may be made only about a breach of an 17
entity's obligation happening after the commencement of 18
chapter 5. 19
210 Continuing application of relevant information standards 20
(1) This section applies if-- 21
(a) a contract or other arrangement (the relevant 22
agreement) entered into before the commencement, 23
applies, or otherwise refers to, a relevant information 24
standard; and 25
(b) on or after the commencement, the relevant information 26
standard is repealed, or the application of the standard in 27
Queensland is otherwise ended. 28
(2) For the purposes of the ongoing operation of the relevant 29
agreement, the relevant information standard, as in force for 30
the purposes of the relevant agreement immediately before the 31
Page 132
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Chapter 8 Transitional provisions
Part 3 Other
[s 211]
commencement, continues to apply for the purposes of the 1
relevant agreement as if the standard still applied in 2
Queensland in the same way it applied immediately before the 3
commencement. 4
(3) In this section-- 5
commencement means the commencement of this section. 6
relevant information standard means an instrument applying 7
in Queensland before the commencement of this section under 8
the name of-- 9
(a) Information Standard No. 42; or 10
(b) Information Standard No. 42A. 11
211 Acts and practices authorised before commencement 12
The privacy principles do not apply to an entity in relation to 13
an act done or practice engaged in by the entity after the 14
commencement of this section if the act or practice is 15
necessary for the performance of a contract entered into 16
before the commencement of this section. 17
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Schedule 1 Documents to which the 1
privacy principles do not apply 2
section 16 3
1 Covert activity 4
A document to the extent it contains personal information-- 5
(a) arising out of, or in connection with, a controlled 6
operation or controlled activity under the Police Powers 7
and Responsibilities Act 2000 or the Crime and 8
Misconduct Act 2001; or 9
(b) arising out of, or in connection with, the covert 10
undertaking of an operation, investigation or function of 11
a law enforcement agency; or 12
(c) obtained under a warrant issued under the 13
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 14
(Cwlth). 15
2 Witness protection 16
A document to the extent it contains personal information 17
about a person who is included in a witness protection 18
program under the Witness Protection Act 2000 or who is 19
subject to other witness protection arrangements made under 20
an Act. 21
3 Disciplinary actions and misconduct 22
A document to the extent it contains personal information 23
arising out of-- 24
(a) a complaint under the Police Service Administration Act 25
1990, part 7; or 26
(b) a complaint, or an investigation of misconduct, under 27
the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001. 28
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4 Whistleblowers 1
A document to the extent it contains personal information-- 2
(a) contained in a public interest disclosure under the 3
Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994; or 4
(b) that has been collected in an investigation arising out of 5
a public interest disclosure under the Whistleblowers 6
Protection Act 1994. 7
5 Cabinet and Executive Council 8
A document to the extent it contains personal information that 9
is also the subject of the Right to Information Act, schedule 3, 10
section 1, 2 or 3. 11
6 Commissions of inquiry 12
A document to the extent it contains personal information 13
arising out of a commission of inquiry. 14
7 Other 15
A document that is-- 16
(a) a generally available publication; or 17
(b) kept in a library, art gallery or museum for the purposes 18
of reference, study or exhibition; or 19
(c) a public record under the Public Records Act 2002 in the 20
custody of Queensland State Archives that is not in a 21
restricted access period under that Act; or 22
(d) a letter, or anything else, while it is being transmitted by 23
post. 24
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Schedule 2 Entities to which the privacy 1
principles do not apply 2
section 19 3
Part 1 Entities to which the privacy 4
principles do not apply 5
1 the Assembly, a member of the Assembly, a committee of the 6
Assembly, a member of a committee of the Assembly, a 7
parliamentary commission of inquiry or a member of a 8
parliamentary commission of inquiry 9
2 the Parliamentary Judges Commission of Inquiry appointed 10
under the expired Parliamentary (Judges) Commission of 11
Inquiry Act 1988 12
3 a commission of inquiry issued by the Governor in Council, 13
whether before or after the commencement of this schedule 14
4 a parents and citizens association under the Education 15
(General Provisions) Act 2006 16
5 a grammar school to which the Grammar Schools Act 1975 17
applies 18
6 a government owned corporation or a subsidiary of a 19
government owned corporation 20
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Part 2 Entities to which the privacy 1
principles do not apply in 2
relation to a particular function 3
1 a court, or the holder of a judicial office or other office 4
connected with a court, in relation to the court's judicial 5
functions 6
2 a registry or other office of a court, or the staff of a registry or 7
other office of a court in their official capacity, so far as its or 8
their functions relate to the court's judicial function 9
3 a tribunal in relation to the tribunal's judicial or quasi-judicial 10
functions 11
4 a tribunal member or the holder of an office connected with a 12
tribunal, in relation to the tribunal's judicial or quasi-judicial 13
functions 14
5 a registry of a tribunal, or the staff of a registry of a tribunal in 15
their official capacity, so far as its or their functions relate to 16
the tribunal's judicial or quasi-judicial functions 17
6 a quasi-judicial entity in relation to its quasi-judicial functions 18
7 a member of, or the holder of an office connected with, a 19
quasi-judicial entity, in relation to the entity's quasi-judicial 20
functions 21
8 the staff of a quasi-judicial entity in their official capacity, so 22
far as their functions relate to the entity's quasi-judicial 23
functions 24
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Schedule 3 Information privacy principles 1
section 26 2
1 IPP 1--Collection of personal information (lawful and fair) 3
(1) An agency must not collect personal information for inclusion 4
in a document or generally available publication unless-- 5
(a) the information is collected for a lawful purpose directly 6
related to a function or activity of the agency; and 7
(b) the collection of the information is necessary to fulfil the 8
purpose or is directly related to fulfilling the purpose. 9
(2) An agency must not collect personal information in a way that 10
is unfair or unlawful. 11
2 IPP 2--Collection of personal information (requested 12
from individual) 13
(1) This section applies to the collection by an agency of personal 14
information for inclusion in a document or generally available 15
publication. 16
(2) However, this section applies only if the agency asks the 17
individual the subject of the personal information for either-- 18
(a) the personal information; or 19
(b) information of a type that would include the personal 20
information. 21
(3) The agency must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the 22
individual is generally aware of-- 23
(a) the purpose of the collection; and 24
(b) if the collection of the personal information is 25
authorised or required under a law-- 26
(i) the fact that the collection of the information is 27
authorised or required under a law; and 28
(ii) the law authorising or requiring the collection; and 29
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(c) if it is the agency's usual practice to disclose personal 1
information of the type collected to any entity (the first 2
entity)--the identity of the first entity; and 3
(d) if the agency is aware that it is the usual practice of the 4
first entity to pass on information of the type collected to 5
another entity (the second entity)--the identity of the 6
second entity. 7
(4) The agency must take the reasonable steps required under 8
subsection (3)-- 9
(a) if practicable--before the personal information is 10
collected; or 11
(b) otherwise--as soon as practicable after the personal 12
information is collected. 13
(5) However, the agency is not required to act under subsection 14
(3) if-- 15
(a) the personal information is collected in the context of 16
the delivery of an emergency service; and 17
Example-- 18
personal information collected during a triple 0 emergency call 19
or during the giving of treatment or assistance to a person in 20
need of an emergency service 21
(b) the agency reasonably believes there would be little 22
practical benefit to the individual in complying with 23
subsection (3) in the circumstances; and 24
(c) the individual would not reasonably expect to be made 25
aware of the matters mentioned in subsection (3). 26
3 IPP 3--Collection of personal information (relevance etc.) 27
(1) This section applies to the collection by an agency of personal 28
information for inclusion in a document or generally available 29
publication. 30
(2) However, this section applies to personal information only if 31
the agency asks for the personal information from any person. 32
(3) The agency must take all reasonable steps to ensure that-- 33
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(a) the personal information collected is-- 1
(i) relevant to the purpose for which it is collected; 2
and 3
(ii) complete and up to date; and 4
(b) the extent to which personal information is collected 5
from the individual the subject of it, and the way 6
personal information is collected, are not an 7
unreasonable intrusion into the personal affairs of the 8
individual. 9
4 IPP 4--Storage and security of personal information 10
(1) An agency having control of a document containing personal 11
information must ensure that-- 12
(a) the document is protected against-- 13
(i) loss; and 14
(ii) unauthorised access, use, modification or 15
disclosure; and 16
(iii) any other misuse; and 17
(b) if it is necessary for the document to be given to a 18
person in connection with the provision of a service to 19
the agency, the agency takes all reasonable steps to 20
prevent unauthorised use or disclosure of the personal 21
information by the person. 22
(2) Protection under subsection (1) must include the security 23
safeguards adequate to provide the level of protection that can 24
reasonably be expected to be provided. 25
5 IPP 5--Providing information about documents 26
containing personal information 27
(1) An agency having control of documents containing personal 28
information must take all reasonable steps to ensure that a 29
person can find out-- 30
(a) whether the agency has control of any documents 31
containing personal information; and 32
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(b) the type of personal information contained in the 1
documents; and 2
(c) the main purposes for which personal information 3
included in the documents is used; and 4
(d) what an individual should do to obtain access to a 5
document containing personal information about the 6
individual. 7
(2) An agency is not required to give a person information under 8
subsection (1) if, under an access law, the agency is authorised 9
or required to refuse to give that information to the person. 10
6 IPP 6--Access to documents containing personal 11
information 12
(1) An agency having control of a document containing personal 13
information must give an individual the subject of the 14
personal information access to the document if the individual 15
asks for access. 16
(2) An agency is not required to give an individual access to a 17
document under subsection (1) if-- 18
(a) the agency is authorised or required under an access law 19
to refuse to give the access to the individual; or 20
(b) the document is expressly excluded from the operation 21
of an access law. 22
7 IPP 7--Amendment of documents containing personal 23
information 24
(1) An agency having control of a document containing personal 25
information must take all reasonable steps, including by the 26
making of an appropriate amendment, to ensure the personal 27
information-- 28
(a) is accurate; and 29
(b) having regard to the purpose for which it was collected 30
or is to be used and to any purpose directly related to 31
fulfilling the purpose, is relevant, complete, up to date 32
and not misleading. 33
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(2) Subsection (1) applies subject to any limitation in a law of the 1
State providing for the amendment of personal information 2
held by the agency. 3
(3) Subsection (4) applies if-- 4
(a) an agency considers it is not required to amend personal 5
information included in a document under the agency's 6
control in a way asked for by the individual the subject 7
of the personal information; and 8
(b) no decision or recommendation to the effect that the 9
document should be amended wholly or partly in the 10
way asked for has been made under a law mentioned in 11
subsection (2). 12
(4) The agency must, if the individual asks, take all reasonable 13
steps to attach to the document any statement provided by the 14
individual of the amendment asked for. 15
8 IPP 8--Checking of accuracy etc. of personal information 16
before use by agency 17
Before an agency uses personal information contained in a 18
document under its control, the agency must take all 19
reasonable steps to ensure that, having regard to the purpose 20
for which the information is proposed to be used, the 21
information is accurate, complete and up to date. 22
9 IPP 9--Use of personal information only for relevant 23
purpose 24
(1) This section applies if an agency having control of a 25
document containing personal information proposes to use the 26
information for a particular purpose. 27
(2) The agency must use only the parts of the personal 28
information that are directly relevant to fulfilling the 29
particular purpose. 30
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10 IPP 10--Limits on use of personal information 1
(1) An agency having control of a document containing personal 2
information that was obtained for a particular purpose must 3
not use the information for another purpose unless-- 4
(a) the individual the subject of the personal information 5
has expressly or impliedly agreed to the use of the 6
information for the other purpose; or 7
(b) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that use of 8
the information for the other purpose is necessary to 9
lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health, 10
safety or welfare of an individual, or to public health, 11
safety or welfare; or 12
(c) use of the information for the other purpose is 13
authorised or required under a law; or 14
(d) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that use of 15
the information for the other purpose is necessary for 1 16
or more of the following by or for a law enforcement 17
agency-- 18
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, 19
prosecution or punishment of criminal offences or 20
breaches of laws imposing penalties or sanctions; 21
(ii) the enforcement of laws relating to the confiscation 22
of the proceeds of crime; 23
(iii) the protection of the public revenue; 24
(iv) the prevention, detection, investigation or 25
remedying of seriously improper conduct; 26
(v) the preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings 27
before any court or tribunal, or implementation of 28
the orders of a court or tribunal; or 29
(e) the other purpose is directly related to the purpose for 30
which the information was obtained; or 31
Examples for paragraph (e)-- 32
1 An agency collects personal information for staff 33
administration purposes. A new system of staff 34
administration is introduced into the agency, with much 35
greater functionality. Under this paragraph, it would be 36
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appropriate to transfer the personal information into the new 1
system. 2
2 An agency uses personal information, obtained for the 3
purposes of operating core services, for the purposes of 4
planning and delivering improvements to the core services. 5
(f) all of the following apply-- 6
(i) the use is necessary for research, or the 7
compilation or analysis of statistics, in the public 8
interest; 9
(ii) the use does not involve the publication of all or 10
any of the personal information in a form that 11
identifies any particular individual the subject of 12
the personal information; 13
(iii) it is not practicable to obtain the express or implied 14
agreement of each individual the subject of the 15
personal information before the use. 16
(2) If the agency uses the personal information under subsection 17
(1)(d), the agency must include with the document a note of 18
the use. 19
11 IPP 11--Limits on disclosure 20
(1) An agency having control of a document containing an 21
individual's personal information must not disclose the 22
personal information to an entity (the relevant entity), other 23
than the individual the subject of the personal information, 24
unless-- 25
(a) the individual is reasonably likely to have been aware, or 26
to have been made aware, under IPP 2 or under a policy 27
or other arrangement in operation before the 28
commencement of this schedule, that it is the agency's 29
usual practice to disclose that type of personal 30
information to the relevant entity; or 31
(b) the individual has expressly or impliedly agreed to the 32
disclosure; or 33
(c) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the 34
disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious 35
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threat to the life, health, safety or welfare of an 1
individual, or to public health, safety or welfare; or 2
(d) the disclosure is authorised or required under a law; or 3
(e) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the 4
disclosure of the information is necessary for 1 or more 5
of the following by or for a law enforcement agency-- 6
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, 7
prosecution or punishment of criminal offences or 8
breaches of laws imposing penalties or sanctions; 9
(ii) the enforcement of laws relating to the confiscation 10
of the proceeds of crime; 11
(iii) the protection of the public revenue; 12
(iv) the prevention, detection, investigation or 13
remedying of seriously improper conduct; 14
(v) the preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings 15
before any court or tribunal, or implementation of 16
the orders of a court or tribunal; or 17
(f) all of the following apply-- 18
(i) the disclosure is necessary for research, or the 19
compilation or analysis of statistics, in the public 20
interest; 21
(ii) the disclosure does not involve the publication of 22
all or any of the personal information in a form that 23
identifies the individual; 24
(iii) it is not practicable to obtain the express or implied 25
agreement of the individual before the disclosure; 26
(iv) the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds that 27
the relevant entity will not disclose the personal 28
information to another entity. 29
(2) If the agency discloses the personal information under 30
subsection (1)(e), the agency must include with the document 31
a note of the disclosure. 32
(3) If the agency discloses personal information under subsection 33
(1), it must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the relevant 34
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entity will not use or disclose the information for a purpose 1
other than the purpose for which the information was 2
disclosed to the agency. 3
(4) The agency may disclose the personal information under 4
subsection (1) if the information may be used for a 5
commercial purpose involving the relevant entity's marketing 6
of anything to the individual only if, without limiting 7
subsection (3), the agency is satisfied on reasonable grounds 8
that-- 9
(a) it is impracticable for the relevant entity to seek the 10
consent of the individual before the personal 11
information is used for the purposes of the marketing; 12
and 13
(b) the relevant entity will not charge the individual for 14
giving effect to a request from the individual to the 15
entity that the individual not receive any marketing 16
communications; and 17
(c) the individual has not made a request mentioned in 18
paragraph (b); and 19
(d) in each marketing communication with the individual, 20
the relevant entity will draw to the individual's attention, 21
or prominently display a notice, that the individual may 22
ask not to receive any further marketing 23
communications; and 24
(e) each written marketing communication from the 25
relevant entity to the individual, up to and including the 26
communication that involves the use, will state the 27
relevant entity's business address and telephone number 28
and, if the communication with the individual is made 29
by fax, or other electronic means, a number or address at 30
which the relevant entity can be directly contacted 31
electronically. 32
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Schedule 4 National privacy principles 1
section 30 2
1 NPP 1--Collection of personal information 3
(1) The department must not collect personal information unless 4
the information is necessary for 1 or more of its functions or 5
activities. 6
(2) The department must collect personal information only by 7
lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive 8
way. 9
(3) At or before the time or, if that is not practicable, as soon as 10
practicable after, the department collects personal information 11
about an individual from the individual, the department must 12
take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is aware 13
of-- 14
(a) the identity of the department and how to contact it; and 15
(b) the fact that he or she is able to gain access to the 16
information; and 17
(c) the purposes for which the information is collected; and 18
(d) the entities, or the types of entities, to which the 19
department usually discloses information of that kind; 20
and 21
(e) any law that requires the particular information to be 22
collected; and 23
(f) the main consequences, if any, for the individual if all or 24
part of the information is not provided. 25
(4) If it is reasonable and practicable to do so, the department 26
must collect personal information about an individual only 27
from that individual. 28
(5) If the department collects personal information about an 29
individual from someone else, it must take reasonable steps to 30
ensure that the individual is or has been made aware of the 31
matters listed in subsection (3) except to the extent that-- 32
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(a) the personal information is collected under NPP 9(1)(e); 1
or 2
(b) making the individual aware of the matters would pose a 3
serious threat to the life, health, safety or welfare of an 4
individual. 5
(6) If the information is required under a statutory collection, the 6
department is not required to ensure that the individual is or 7
has been made aware of the matters listed in subsection (3). 8
(7) In this section-- 9
statutory collection means-- 10
(a) a register or other collection of personal information that 11
the department is authorised or required to maintain 12
under an Act for monitoring public health issues, 13
including, for example, by identifying morbidity and 14
mortality trends, planning and evaluating health services 15
or facilitating and evaluating treatments; or 16
(b) personal information collected by the department under 17
an Act requiring a person to give the information to the 18
department. 19
2 NPP 2--Limits on use or disclosure of personal 20
information 21
(1) The department must not use or disclose personal information 22
about an individual for a purpose (the secondary purpose) 23
other than the primary purpose of collection unless-- 24
(a) both of the following apply-- 25
(i) the secondary purpose is related to the primary 26
purpose of collection and, if the personal 27
information is sensitive information, directly 28
related to the primary purpose of collection; 29
(ii) the individual would reasonably expect the 30
department to use or disclose the information for 31
the secondary purpose; or 32
(b) the individual has consented to the use or disclosure; or 33
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(c) if the information is health information and the use or 1
disclosure is necessary for research, or the compilation 2
or analysis of statistics, relevant to public health or 3
public safety-- 4
(i) it is impracticable for the department to seek the 5
individual's consent before the use or disclosure; 6
and 7
(ii) the use or disclosure is conducted in accordance 8
with guidelines approved by the chief executive of 9
the department for the purposes of this 10
subparagraph; and 11
(iii) for disclosure--the department reasonably believes 12
that the entity receiving the health information will 13
not disclose the health information or personal 14
information derived from the health information; 15
or 16
(d) the department reasonably believes that the use or 17
disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious 18
threat to an individual's life, health, safety or welfare or 19
a serious threat to public health, safety or welfare; or 20
(e) the department has reason to suspect that unlawful 21
activity has been, is being or may be engaged in, and 22
uses or discloses the personal information as a necessary 23
part of its investigation of the matter or in reporting its 24
concerns to relevant persons or authorities; or 25
(f) the use or disclosure is authorised or required by or 26
under law; or 27
(g) the department reasonably believes that the use or 28
disclosure is reasonably necessary for 1 or more of the 29
following by or for an enforcement body-- 30
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, 31
prosecution or punishment of criminal offences or 32
breaches of laws imposing penalties or sanctions; 33
(ii) the enforcement of laws relating to the confiscation 34
of the proceeds of crime; 35
(iii) the protection of the public revenue; 36
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(iv) the prevention, detection, investigation or 1
remedying of seriously improper conduct; 2
(v) the preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings 3
before any court or tribunal, or implementation of 4
the orders of a court or tribunal. 5
Notes-- 6
1 It is not intended to deter the department from lawfully cooperating 7
with agencies performing law enforcement functions in the 8
performance of their functions. 9
2 Subsection (1) does not override any existing legal obligations not 10
to disclose personal information (for example, Health Services Act 11
1991, section 62A). Nothing in subsection (1) requires the 12
department to disclose personal information. The department is 13
always entitled not to disclose personal information in the absence 14
of a legal obligation to disclose it. 15
3 The department is also subject to the requirements of chapter 2, part 16
3 if it transfers personal information to an entity outside Australia. 17
(2) If the department uses or discloses personal information under 18
subsection (1)(g), it must include with the personal 19
information a note of the use or disclosure. 20
(3) Despite subsection (1), if the department provides a health 21
service to an individual, it may disclose health information 22
about the individual to a person who is responsible for the 23
individual if-- 24
(a) the individual-- 25
(i) is physically or legally incapable of giving consent 26
to the disclosure; or 27
(ii) physically can not communicate consent to the 28
disclosure; and 29
(b) a health professional providing the health service for the 30
department is satisfied that either-- 31
(i) the disclosure is necessary to provide appropriate 32
care or treatment of the individual; or 33
(ii) the disclosure is made for compassionate reasons; 34
and 35
(c) the disclosure is not contrary to any wish-- 36
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(i) expressed by the individual before the individual 1
became unable to give or communicate consent; 2
and 3
(ii) of which the health professional is aware, or of 4
which the health professional could reasonably be 5
expected to be aware; and 6
(d) the disclosure is limited to the extent reasonable and 7
necessary for a purpose mentioned in paragraph (b). 8
(4) For subsection (3), a person is responsible for an individual if 9
the person is-- 10
(a) a parent of the individual; or 11
(b) a child or sibling of the individual who a health 12
professional believes has capacity; or 13
(c) a spouse or de facto partner of the individual; or 14
(d) a relative of the individual and a member of the 15
individual's household; or 16
(e) a guardian of the individual; or 17
(f) a person exercising a power under an enduring power of 18
attorney made by the individual that is exercisable in 19
relation to decisions about the individual's health; or 20
(g) a person who has sufficient personal interest in the 21
health and welfare of the individual; or 22
(h) a person nominated by the individual to be contacted in 23
case of emergency. 24
Note-- 25
Subsection (3) does not override any law with respect to assisted and 26
substituted decision-making, including, for example, the Guardianship 27
and Administration Act 2000 and the Powers of Attorney Act 1998. 28
(5) Despite subsection (1), the department may use an 29
individual's personal information that is not sensitive 30
information for a commercial purpose involving the 31
department's marketing of anything to the individual, but only 32
if-- 33
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(a) it is impracticable for the department to seek the consent 1
of the individual before the personal information is used 2
for the purposes of the marketing; and 3
(b) the department will not charge the individual for giving 4
effect to a request from the individual to the department 5
that the individual not receive any marketing 6
communications; and 7
(c) the individual has not made a request mentioned in 8
paragraph (b); and 9
(d) in each marketing communication with the individual, 10
the department will draw to the individual's attention, or 11
prominently display a notice, that the individual may 12
ask not to receive any further marketing 13
communications; and 14
(e) each written marketing communication from the 15
department to the individual, up to and including the 16
communication that involves the use, will state the 17
department's business address and telephone number 18
and, if the communication with the individual is made 19
by fax or other electronic means, a number or address at 20
which the department can be directly contacted 21
electronically. 22
(6) In this section-- 23
child, of an individual, includes an adopted child, a stepchild 24
and a foster-child, of the individual. 25
enforcement body means an enforcement body within the 26
meaning of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth). 27
parent, of an individual, includes a step-parent, adoptive 28
parent and a foster-parent, of the individual. 29
relative, of an individual, means a grandchild, uncle, aunt, 30
nephew or niece, of the individual. 31
sibling, of an individual, includes a half-brother, half-sister, 32
adoptive brother, adoptive sister, stepbrother, stepsister, 33
foster-brother and foster-sister, of the individual. 34
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3 NPP 3--Data quality 1
The department must take reasonable steps to ensure that the 2
personal information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate, 3
complete and up to date. 4
4 NPP 4--Data security 5
(1) The department must take reasonable steps to protect the 6
personal information it holds from misuse, loss and 7
unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. 8
(2) If the personal information is no longer needed for any 9
purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed 10
under NPP 2, the department must take reasonable steps to 11
ensure that the individual the subject of the personal 12
information can no longer, and can not in the future, be 13
identified from the personal information. 14
Note-- 15
Subsection (2) will apply subject to the requirements of the Public 16
Records Act 2002 providing for the retention of records. 17
5 NPP 5--Openness 18
(1) The department must set out in a document clearly expressed 19
policies on its management of personal information and must 20
make the document available to anyone who asks for it. 21
(2) On request by a person, the department must take reasonable 22
steps to let the person know, generally, what sort of personal 23
information it holds, for what purposes, and how it collects, 24
holds, uses and discloses that information. 25
6 NPP 6--Access to documents containing personal 26
information 27
(1) If the department has control of a document containing 28
personal information, it must give the individual the subject of 29
the personal information access to the document if the 30
individual asks for access. 31
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(2) The department is not required to give an individual access to 1
a document under subsection (1) if-- 2
(a) the department is authorised or required under an access 3
law to refuse to give the access to the individual; or 4
(b) the document is expressly excluded from the operation 5
of an access law. 6
7 NPP 7--Amendment of documents containing personal 7
information 8
(1) If the department has control of a document containing 9
personal information, it must take all reasonable steps, 10
including by the making of an appropriate amendment, to 11
ensure the personal information-- 12
(a) is accurate; and 13
(b) having regard to the purpose for which it was collected 14
or is to be used and to any purpose directly related to 15
fulfilling the purpose, is relevant, complete, up to date 16
and not misleading. 17
(2) Subsection (1) applies subject to any limitation in a law of the 18
State providing for the amendment of personal information 19
held by the department. 20
(3) Subsection (4) applies if-- 21
(a) the department considers it is not required to amend 22
personal information included in a document under the 23
department's control in a way asked for by the 24
individual the subject of the personal information; and 25
(b) no decision or recommendation to the effect that the 26
document should be amended wholly or partly in the 27
way asked for has been made under a law mentioned in 28
subsection (2). 29
(4) The department must, if the individual asks, take all 30
reasonable steps to attach to the document any statement 31
provided by the individual of the amendment asked for. 32
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Schedule 4
8 NPP 8--Anonymity 1
Wherever it is lawful and practicable, individuals must have 2
the option of not identifying themselves when entering into 3
transactions with the department. 4
9 NPP 9--Sensitive information 5
(1) The department must not collect sensitive information about 6
an individual (the relevant individual) unless-- 7
(a) the relevant individual has consented; or 8
(b) the collection is required by law; or 9
(c) the collection is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious 10
threat to the life, health, safety or welfare of an 11
individual, and the relevant individual-- 12
(i) is physically or legally incapable of giving consent 13
to the collection; or 14
(ii) physically can not communicate consent to the 15
collection; or 16
(d) the collection is necessary for the establishment, 17
exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim; or 18
(e) the information is a family medical history, social 19
medical history or other relevant information about any 20
individual, that is collected for the purpose of providing 21
any person, whether or not the relevant individual, with 22
a health service, and is collected by the department 23
from-- 24
(i) the person who is to receive or is receiving the 25
service; or 26
(ii) a parent of the relevant individual; or 27
(iii) a child or sibling of the relevant individual if a 28
health professional believes the child or sibling has 29
capacity; or 30
(iv) a spouse or de facto partner of the relevant 31
individual; or 32
Page 155
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 4
(v) a relative of the relevant individual if the relative is 1
a member of the relevant individual's household; 2
or 3
(vi) a guardian of the relevant individual; or 4
(vii) a person exercising a power under an enduring 5
power of attorney made by the relevant individual 6
that is exercisable in relation to decisions about the 7
relevant individual's health; or 8
(viii) a person who has sufficient personal interest in the 9
health and welfare of the relevant individual; or 10
(ix) a person nominated by the relevant individual to be 11
contacted in case of emergency. 12
(2) Despite subsection (1), the department may collect health 13
information about an individual if the information is 14
necessary to provide a health service to the individual and-- 15
(a) the individual would reasonably expect the department 16
to collect the information for that purpose; or 17
(b) the information is collected as authorised or required by 18
law. 19
(3) Despite subsection (1), the department may collect health 20
information about an individual if-- 21
(a) the collection is necessary for any of the following 22
purposes-- 23
(i) research relevant to public health or public safety; 24
(ii) the compilation or analysis of statistics relevant to 25
public health or public safety; 26
(iii) the management, funding or monitoring of a health 27
service; and 28
(b) the purpose can not be served by the collection of 29
information that does not identify the individual or from 30
which the individual's identity can not reasonably be 31
ascertained; and 32
(c) it is impracticable for the department to seek the 33
individual's consent to the collection; and 34
Page 156
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 4
(d) the information is collected-- 1
(i) as authorised or required by law; or 2
(ii) by a designated person with the approval of the 3
chief executive of the department; or 4
Note-- 5
The chief executive could delegate the power to approve 6
the collection of information by a designated person. 7
(iii) in accordance with guidelines approved by the 8
chief executive of the department for the purposes 9
of this subparagraph. 10
(4) If the department collects health information about an 11
individual in accordance with subsection (3), the department 12
must, before it discloses the personal information, take 13
reasonable steps to ensure that the individual the subject of the 14
personal information can no longer, and can not in the future, 15
be identified from the personal information. 16
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
Schedule 5 Dictionary 1
section 11 2
access application means an application by an individual 3
under chapter 3 to access a document to the extent it contains 4
the individual's personal information. 5
access charge see section 77. 6
access law means a law of the State that provides for access 7
by persons to documents. 8
adult child means a child who is 18 years or more. 9
adult sibling means a sibling who is 18 years or more. 10
agency-- 11
(a) for chapter 3--has the meaning given by section 17; or 12
(b) otherwise--has the meaning given by section 18, but for 13
chapter 6, includes a chapter 3 agency. 14
agent, in relation to an application, means a person who 15
makes the application for another person. 16
amendment application means an application by an 17
individual under chapter 3 to amend a document in relation to 18
the individual's personal information contained in the 19
document. 20
appeal tribunal, for chapter 3, part 11, see section 129. 21
applicant, in relation to an application, means-- 22
(a) if the application is made for a person--the person; or 23
(b) otherwise--the person making the application. 24
appropriately qualified, in relation to a healthcare 25
professional, means having the qualifications and experience 26
appropriate to assess relevant healthcare information in a 27
document. 28
approved form means a form approved under section 200. 29
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Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
Assembly means the Legislative Assembly. 1
backup system means a system that has, for disaster recovery 2
purposes, copied electronic data onto a separate data storage 3
medium, for example, onto a backup tape. 4
bound contracted service provider means the contracted 5
service provider under a service arrangement if-- 6
(a) under section 35(1) and (2), the contracting agency is 7
required to take all reasonable steps to ensure the 8
contracted service provider is required to comply with 9
the privacy principles as if it were the contracting 10
agency; and 11
(b) under the service arrangement, the contracted service 12
provider is required to comply with the privacy 13
principles as if it were the contracting agency. 14
chapter 3 agency means an agency for chapter 3. 15
chapter 3 document means a document of an agency for 16
chapter 3 or a document of a Minister for chapter 3. 17
community safety department means the department in which 18
the Corrective Services Act 2006 is administered. 19
complainant, for a privacy complaint, means the person who 20
makes the complaint. 21
compliance notice see section 158. 22
consent, for the NPPs, means express consent or implied 23
consent. 24
considered decision-- 25
(a) for an access application-see section 65; or 26
(b) for an amendment application--see section 70. 27
contracted service provider see section 34. 28
contracting agency see section 34. 29
contrary to public interest document means a document 30
containing contrary to public interest information where it is 31
not practicable to give access to a copy of the document from 32
Page 159
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
which the contrary to public interest information has been 1
deleted. 2
contrary to public interest information means information 3
the disclosure of which would, on balance, be contrary to 4
public interest under the Right to Information Act, section 49. 5
control, of a document, for the application of the privacy 6
principles, see section 24. 7
coroner see the Coroners Act 2003. 8
court includes a justice and a coroner. 9
decision-maker means-- 10
(a) for an access or amendment application to an 11
agency--the person with power in relation to all or part 12
of the application under section 50; or 13
(b) for an access or amendment application to a 14
Minister--the Minister or the person with power in 15
relation to all or part of the application under section 51. 16
deemed decision-- 17
(a) for an access application--see section 66; or 18
(b) for an amendment application--see section 71. 19
department, for the NPPs, means the health department. 20
designated person, for the NPPs, means a person who is a 21
designated person under the Health Services Act 1991, part 7. 22
disclose, personal information, for the application of the 23
privacy principles, see section 23. 24
document-- 25
(a) of an agency, for chapter 3--see section 13; or 26
(b) of a Minister, for chapter 3, see section 14; or 27
(c) otherwise--see section 15. 28
document to which the privacy principles do not apply see 29
section 16. 30
Page 160
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
eligible family member-- 1
1 eligible family member, of a deceased person, means-- 2
(a) a spouse of the deceased person; or 3
(b) if a spouse is not reasonably available--an adult 4
child of the deceased person; or 5
(c) if a spouse or adult child is not reasonably 6
available--a parent of the deceased person; or 7
(d) if a spouse, adult child or parent is not reasonably 8
available--an adult sibling of the deceased person; 9
or 10
(e) if a spouse, adult child, parent or adult sibling is 11
not reasonably available and the deceased person 12
was not an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait 13
Islander--the next nearest adult relative of the 14
deceased person who is reasonably available; or 15
(f) if a spouse, adult child, parent or adult sibling is 16
not reasonably available and the deceased person 17
was an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait 18
Islander--a person who is an appropriate person 19
according to the tradition or custom of the 20
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community to 21
which the deceased person belonged and who is 22
reasonably available. 23
2 A person described in item 1 is not reasonably available 24
if-- 25
(a) a person of that description does not exist or is 26
deceased; or 27
(b) a person of that description can not be reasonably 28
contacted; or 29
(c) a person of that description is unable or unwilling 30
to act as the eligible family member of the 31
deceased person for the purposes of this Act. 32
entity to which the privacy principles do not apply see section 33
19. 34
Page 161
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
exempt document means a document containing exempt 1
information where it is not practicable to give access to a copy 2
of the document from which the exempt information has been 3
deleted. 4
exempt information means information that is exempt 5
information under the Right to Information Act. 6
external review see section 98. 7
external review application see section 98. 8
function includes a power. 9
generally available publication means a publication that is, or 10
is to be made, generally available to the public, however it is 11
published. 12
healthcare professional means a person who carries on, and 13
is entitled to carry on, an occupation involving the provision 14
of care for a person's physical or mental health or wellbeing, 15
including, for example-- 16
(a) a doctor, including a psychiatrist; or 17
(b) a psychologist; or 18
(c) a social worker; or 19
(d) a registered nurse. 20
health department means the department in which the Health 21
Services Act 1991 is administered. 22
health information, about an individual, for the NPPs, 23
means-- 24
(a) personal information about the individual that includes 25
any of the following-- 26
(i) the individual's health at any time; 27
(ii) a disability of the individual at any time; 28
(iii) the individual's expressed wishes about the future 29
provision of health services to the individual; 30
(iv) a health service that has been provided, or that is to 31
be provided, to the individual; or 32
Page 162
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
(b) personal information about the individual collected for 1
the purpose of providing, or in providing, a health 2
service; or 3
(c) personal information about the individual collected in 4
connection with the donation, or intended donation, by 5
the individual of any of the individual's body parts, 6
organs or body substances. 7
health professional, for the NPPs, means a person who is a 8
health professional under the Health Services Act 1991, part 7. 9
health service means-- 10
(a) an activity performed in relation to an individual that is 11
intended or claimed, expressly or otherwise, by the 12
individual or by a person performing the activity-- 13
(i) to assess, record, preserve or improve the 14
individual's health; or 15
(ii) to diagnose an illness or disability of the 16
individual; or 17
(iii) to treat an illness or disability of the individual or a 18
suspected illness or disability; or 19
(b) the dispensing on prescription of a drug or medicinal 20
preparation by a pharmacist. 21
holds, in relation to an office, includes performs the duties of 22
the office. 23
information commissioner means the information 24
commissioner under the Right to Information Act. 25
internal review see section 93. 26
internal review application see section 93. 27
IPP means an information privacy principle stated as a section 28
of schedule 3. 29
judicial member, for chapter 3, part 11, see section 129. 30
law enforcement agency means-- 31
(a) the Queensland Police Service under the Police Service 32
Administration Act 1990; or 33
Page 163
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
(b) the Crime and Misconduct Commission under the 1
Crime and Misconduct Act 2001; or 2
(c) the community safety department; or 3
(d) any other agency, to the extent it has responsibility for-- 4
(i) the performance of functions or activities directed 5
to the prevention, detection, investigation, 6
prosecution or punishment of offences and other 7
breaches of laws for which penalties or sanctions 8
may be imposed; or 9
(ii) the management of property seized or restrained 10
under a law relating to the confiscation of the 11
proceeds of crime; or 12
(iii) the enforcement of a law, or of an order made 13
under a law, relating to the confiscation of the 14
proceeds of crime; or 15
(iv) the execution or implementation of an order or 16
decision made by a court or tribunal. 17
Minister includes a Parliamentary Secretary. 18
narrow-- 19
(a) for an access application, means change the application 20
by reducing the part of a document or the number of 21
documents to which access is sought under the 22
application; or 23
(b) for an amendment application, means change the 24
application by reducing the part of a document or the 25
number of documents sought to be amended under the 26
application. 27
NPP means a national privacy principle stated as a section of 28
schedule 4. 29
officer, in relation to an agency, includes-- 30
(a) the agency's principal officer; and 31
(b) a member of the agency; and 32
(c) a member of the agency's staff; and 33
Page 164
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
(d) a person employed by or for the agency. 1
OIC means the office of the information commissioner under 2
the Right to Information Act. 3
parliamentary committee means the Law, Justice and Safety 4
Committee of the Assembly. 5
participant, in an external review, means a person who is a 6
participant in the review under section 102. 7
personal information see section 12. 8
prescribed information means-- 9
(a) exempt information mentioned in the Right to 10
Information Act, schedule 3, section 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 or 11
10; or 12
(b) information the disclosure of which would, on balance, 13
be contrary to the public interest, under the Right to 14
Information Act, section 47(3)(b). 15
prescribed written notice means a notice under section 199. 16
principal officer means-- 17
(a) in relation to a department--the chief executive of the 18
department; or 19
(b) in relation to a local government--the chief executive 20
officer (however described) of the government; or 21
(c) in relation to a government owned corporation--the 22
chief executive officer (however described) of the 23
government owned corporation; or 24
(d) in relation to a subsidiary of a government owned 25
corporation--the principal officer (however described) 26
of the subsidiary; or 27
(e) in relation to a public authority for which a regulation 28
declares an office to be the principal office--the holder 29
of the office; or 30
(f) in relation to another public authority-- 31
Page 165
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
(i) if it is an incorporated body that has no 1
members--the person who manages the body's 2
affairs; or 3
(ii) if it is a body (whether or not incorporated) that is 4
constituted by 1 person--the person; or 5
(iii) if it is a body (whether or not incorporated) that is 6
constituted by 2 or more persons--the person who 7
is entitled to preside at a meeting of the body at 8
which the person is present. 9
privacy commissioner means the Privacy Commissioner 10
appointed under this Act. 11
privacy complaint see section 164. 12
privacy principles means the requirements applying to an 13
entity under chapter 2. 14
processing period, for an access or amendment application, 15
for chapter 3, see section 22. 16
publication includes a book, magazine or newspaper. 17
public authority has the meaning given by section 21. 18
public library includes-- 19
(a) the State library; and 20
(b) a local government library; and 21
(c) a library in the State that forms part of a public tertiary 22
educational institution. 23
relevant entity, for chapter 5, see section 164. 24
relevant healthcare information means healthcare 25
information provided by a healthcare professional. 26
respondent, for a privacy complaint, see section 164. 27
reviewable decision means any of the following decisions in 28
relation to an access or amendment application-- 29
(a) a decision that an access or amendment application is 30
outside the scope of this Act under section 52(1)(b); 31
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Schedule 5
(b) a decision that an access or amendment application does 1
not comply with all relevant application requirements 2
under section 53(5); 3
(c) a decision under section 54(5)(b) that an application 4
purportedly made under this Act can not be dealt with 5
under this Act; 6
(d) a decision-- 7
(i) to disclose a document contrary to the views of a 8
relevant third party obtained under section 56; or 9
(ii) to disclose a document if an agency or Minister 10
should have taken, but has not taken, steps to 11
obtain the views of a relevant third party under 12
section 56; 13
(e) a decision refusing to deal with an access or amendment 14
application under part 4; 15
(f) a decision refusing access to a document under section 16
67 or refusing amendment of a document under section 17
72; 18
(g) a decision under section 76(5) that information to which 19
a notice under section 76(2) relates is not information in 20
relation to which the applicant was entitled to apply to 21
the agency or Minister for amendment of the document; 22
(h) a decision deferring access to a document under section 23
87; 24
(i) a decision about whether an access charge is payable in 25
relation to access to a document (including a decision 26
not to waive charges); 27
(j) a decision giving access to documents subject to the 28
deletion of information under section 88, 89 or 90; 29
(k) a decision giving access to documents in a form 30
different to the form applied for by the applicant, unless 31
access in the form applied for would involve an 32
infringement of the copyright of a person other than the 33
State; 34
(l) a deemed decision. 35
Page 167
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Schedule 5
review under this Act means internal review or external 1
review. 2
Right to Information Act means the Right to Information Act 3
2009. 4
RTI commissioner means the RTI commissioner under the 5
Right to Information Act. 6
sensitive information, about an individual, for the NPPs, 7
means-- 8
(a) personal information about the individual that includes 9
any of the following-- 10
(i) the individual's racial or ethnic origin; 11
(ii) the individual's political opinions; 12
(iii) the individual's membership of a political 13
association; 14
(iv) the individual's religious beliefs or affiliations; 15
(v) the individual's philosophical beliefs; 16
(vi) the individual's membership of a professional or 17
trade association; 18
(vii) the individual's membership of a trade union; 19
(viii) the individual's sexual preferences or practices; 20
(ix) the individual's criminal record; or 21
(b) information that is health information about the 22
individual for the NPPs. 23
service arrangement see section 34. 24
subsidiary see the Government Owned Corporations Act 25
1993. 26
transfer period, for an access or amendment application, for 27
chapter 3, see section 22. 28
use, personal information, see section 23. 29
Page 168
© State of Queensland 2009
AMENDMENTS TO BILL
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Information Privacy Bill 2009
Amendments agreed to during Consideration
1 Clause 52 (Application outside scope of Act)--
Page 40, line 9, after `agency'--
insert--
`, or a document of a Minister,'.
2 Clause 69 (Information as to existence of particular
documents)--
Page 59, line 26, `200'--
omit, insert--
`199'.
3 Clause 76 (Particular notations required to be added)--
Page 63, line 28, `agency's'--
omit, insert--
`document holder's'.
4 Clause 102 (Participants in external review)--
Page 78, line 2, `government'--
omit, insert--
`government,'.
5 After clause 110 (Conduct of reviews)--
Page 82, line 24, `4A'--
omit, insert--
`5'.
Page 1
Information Privacy Bill 2009
6 After clause 122 (Exception for successful challenge of s
69(2) notice)--
Page 89, line 11, `5'--
omit, insert--
`6'.
7 Clause 123 (Decision on external review)--
Page 89, line 19, after `remove'--
insert--
`any'.
8 After clause 124 (Correction of mistakes in decisions)--
Page 90, line 19, `6'--
omit, insert--
`7'.
9 Clause 190 (Non-official documents in Queensland State
Archives etc.)--
Page 124, line 7, after `agency'--
insert--
`or a document of a Minister'.
10 Schedule 5 (Dictionary)--
Page 165, line 13, before `information'--
insert--
`personal'.
Page 2
Information Privacy Bill 2009
11 Schedule 5 (Dictionary)--
Page 167, line 15, before `part'--
insert--
`chapter 3,'.
© State of Queensland 2009
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